Peery's Egyptian Theatre
About this property
Peery's Egyptian Theater is a movie palace located in Ogden, Utah, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Peery's Egyptian Theater was built after the fiery demise of the Arlington Hotel in 1923. Harman and Louis Peery devised a plan to build a grand theater, "The Showplace of the West". The architectural firm of Hodgson & McClenahan, notable for many important Wasatch Front landmarks, was hired for the task. They took cues from many of the most famous western theaters, including Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, and settled upon an Egyptian-themed showhouse. Construction began in 1923 on the cleared area left from the Arlington Hotel, and incidentally, the location of the Peerys' first Ogden home. Ten months passed, and on July 3, 1924, the Egyptian opened. The first feature played at the new theater was Zane Grey's Wanderer of the Wasteland. This "natural color" silent film was accompanied by the Mighty Wurlitzer, the Egyptian's famous pipe organ. The first "talking picture" was In Old Arizona, shown in 1929. This downgraded the role of the house pipe organ, which was occasionally used during intermissions and other programs. In 1960, the organ was removed and put into storage. Twentieth Century-Fox, the chain to which the Egyptian belonged, incorporated in 1935. Both of the Peery's theaters, the Egyptian and the Ogden, were leased by Fox Inter-Mountain Theaters as a result. A renovation of the theater's entrance increased the marquee size fourfold and added new box office and a new ceiling to the lobby. In 1951, Fox refurbished the Egyptian, adding many new and more splendid details to the theater. 1953 saw the arrival of two new and important events for the theater. The 3-D movie It Came from Outer Space was shown, a first of that type for the house, and then The Robe, a CinemaScope film, debuted. The format of CinemaScope, of more than two-to-one ratio in width versus height, necessitated the removal of two of the inner-proscenium columns. A four-channel high-fidelity system was also installed to accommodate the increasing significance of stereophonic sound in movies. The subsequent remodeling in 1961 was met with mixed reactions. Many of the details of the original theater were painted over or removed. Pink curtains were accompanied by pink auditorium walls. A new, wider and larger screen was installed in front of the proscenium. Seating was also reconfigured, reducing capacity from 1,200 to 850 in an effort to increase the legroom and comfort of patrons. A reconditioning of the seats also occurred, further updating the standards.
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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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Questions about this property
When was Peery's Egyptian Theatre listed on the National Register?
Peery's Egyptian Theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 12, 1978.
What type of historic resource is Peery's Egyptian Theatre?
Peery's Egyptian Theatre is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.
What is the period of significance for Peery's Egyptian Theatre?
The period of significance for Peery's Egyptian Theatre is recorded as the industrial era.
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