A popular mid-century movie house with a detailed tile Art Deco facade, upper-level glass brick windows, and tall panels of polychrome terracotta, is receiving nearly $230,000 in state funding for upgrade work.
Located at 2032 14th Street in downtown Boulder, the theater was originally called the Curran Opera House and hosted concerts and ballets before being substantially rebuilt as the Boulder Theater in 1936.
That rebuilding came about after the theater was purchased by the big Fox Theater Company, which maintained a network of more than seven hundred movie houses across the country, primarily in the 1920s and 30s.
Those Fox theaters were regarded as “movie palaces,” and featured a variety of building architecture, besides Art Deco, thought to be drawn from Indian and Moorish design influences.
While the Boulder movie house thrived for more nearly four decades, it fell upon hard times in the 1970s, leading to an effort by the Historic Boulder preservation group to have it designated as an official state landmark.
Still operational, the theater in recent years has served as a popular venue for any number of entertainment and community programs. Last year, it hosted some 180 shows and special events.
In a statement, Ruth McHeyser, a long-standing members of the Historic Boulder’s board of directors, remarked that the theater is “one of the recognizable and well-loved buildings in the city.”
The $227,000 grant will fund the removal and replacement of fading stucco, while also restoring masonry within the structural walls as well as windows and repairing a large crack in the building’s facade.
By Garry Boulard
Image Credit: Courtesy of Historic Boulder
