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Promised Valley Playhouse
Photo from the Grant Smith collection
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132 S State St
Salt Lake City UT
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| Record #15812 |
Opened: 1905
Closed: 1996
Demolished: 2003
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Capacity:
Architect(s):
Architectural Style(s):
National Register:
Current Organ: none |
| Also Known As: Orpheum, Wilkes, Roxey, Salt Lake, Lyric |
Information for this tour was contributed by Grant Smith. The Orpheum Theatre, 132 S. State, opened on Christmas Day 1905 as Salt Lake's first full-time vaudeville house.
The theater, an excellent example of "Second Renaissance Revival", was designed by architect C.N. Neuhausen. A 12-foot statue of Venus tops its central section, while larger-than-life heads guard the front entry. The auditorium and main lobby have been refurbished several times. Except for the stage, little remains of the original building. An old unused hotel behind the auditorium used to house vaudeville performers.
In 1918, the theater was converted to show movies and was known by several names including the Wilkes, Roxey, Salt Lake, and Lyric. The Lyric had one of the first crying rooms in town, and even employed a registered nurse in its ladies room. In 1953 it was one of the first two theaters in Salt Lake to show widescreen movies with stereo sound.
In 1972, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints bought and restored the building for church plays, renaming it the Promised Valley Playhouse. In 1996 the theater closed because of structural problems. In 2000, the Church replaced the playhouse by building a new 911-seat theater as part of its new Conference Center.
Salt Lake County paid $50,000 for an architectural study, but voted on 17 July 2001 against purchasing or leasing the theater because the high cost of restoring it. The study concluded that it would cost from $2 million for a basic seismic upgrade to $30 million for a full restoration.
Zions Securities, which owns the building, plans to demolish the auditorium and build a 400-car parking tower. The facade and lobby would be preserved and used for office and retail space.
Photos
Photos remain the property of the Member and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Member. |
September 2001 photos from the Grant Smith collection. 
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Last updated 2005-01-23.
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