National Register of Historic Places

Pantages, Alexander, Theater

Fresno, Fresno County, California
Listed
February 23, 1978
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
78000663

About this property

Warnors Theatre is a historic theater located in downtown Fresno, California. The 2,100-seat venue opened in 1928 as the Pantages Theater, named after its then owner, Alexander Pantages. After it was purchased by Warner Brothers in 1929, it was known as the Warner Theater. In the 1960s, the name was changed to "Warnors" in order to avoid trademark issues. The theater was designed by B. Marcus Priteca, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The theater features a unit orchestra (a pipe organ which includes numerous features and instruments, meant to be able to replicate sounds of a full orchestra with only one organist), which was manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company of Van Nuys, California and installed in 1928. The organ was to be used to accompany silent films. Around the same time the organ was to be installed, movies were beginning to include sound. The theater tried to cancel the order but the organ was installed anyway. The organ has 14 ranks built with 1,035 pipes and a four-manual console with 720 keys, pedals and combination pistons. The organ was used primarily for motion pictures until 1973. Because of the cost of paying orchestra members, most accompanying orchestras were replaced with unit orchestras. The Berlin Philharmonic gave a concert in the theater on November 15, 1956, under its new music director Herbert von Karajan. In 2006, Warnors Theatre was featured in an episode of the PBS program California's Gold, hosted by Huell Howser. Howser delved into the story of the Caglia family, and their role in the restoration of the theatre after they bought it in 1973. Media related to Warnors Theatre at Wikimedia Commons

Location

1400 Fulton St.
Fresno, Fresno County, California
36.73817, -119.79449

Categories

ARCHITECTUREPERFORMING ARTS
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation Building
Civil War
0.1 mi
Fresno Bee Building
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0.2 mi
Hotel Fresno
Pre Contact
0.2 mi
Romain, Frank, House
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0.3 mi
Einstein House
Industrial
0.3 mi

Questions about this property

When was Pantages, Alexander, Theater listed on the National Register?

Pantages, Alexander, Theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 23, 1978.

What type of historic resource is Pantages, Alexander, Theater?

Pantages, Alexander, Theater is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Pantages, Alexander, Theater?

The period of significance for Pantages, Alexander, Theater is recorded as the industrial era.

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