Ridglea Theatre
6025-6033 Camp Bowie Blvd. & 3309 Winthrop Ave., Fort Worth, TXThe 1950 Ridglea Theatre, on the west side of Fort Worth, Texas, is part of a commercial district developed between the early 1940s through the mid-1950s by A. C. Luther to serve the surrounding residential section, much of which he also developed. With a seating capacity of approximately 1,500, the Ridglea Theatre was Fort Worth's largest suburban movie theater and functioned as a theater for over 40 years. The property is nominated to the National Register at the local level of significance under Criterion A in the area of Entertainment and Recreation as Fort Worth's largest single-screen suburban movie theater. The property is nominated to the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Architecture at the local level as an excellent example of the Spanish Eclectic style as applied to a movie theatre and commercial building. Elements of the style found m the building include the stone and painted brick walls, wood balconies, ornamental iron work, and low-pitched roofs sheathed with red clay tile. The theater was designed by the Dallas firm of Pettigrew and Worley, which specialized in the construction of movie houses across the state from the late 1930s to the early 1950s. The Spanish Eclectic design of the Ridglea Theatre varied from the modernistic designs of the firm's other theaters of the era. The property is also nominated at the local level of significance under Criterion C in the area of Art, for the murals within the theater lobby designed by Norwegian-born Eugene John Gilboe, a noted decorator and muralist whose artwork adorned many buildings in Texas. They relate to the Spanish Eclectic theme of the theater building and the Ridglea Village as a whole, as they depict Spanish explorers arriving on the coast of California with pirates in close pursuit, a fitting subject for a venue intended to fuel the imaginations of its patrons. The period of significance is from 1950, the year the original theater and bank building was completed, to 1961, which acknowledges with the building's continued use as a suburban theater and bank.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 2011.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.