Paramount Theatre
713 Congress Ave., Austin, TXAs one of Austin's several "opera houses" of the early twentieth century, the Paramount Theater played a crucial role in the development of the theater arts in the state's capitol city. Though modified, it remains largely intact, and today stands as Austin's strongest endeavor to establish a performing arts center. Over the years it has been prized for its fine acoustics and richness of decor. And it is one of the city's finest examples of the Neo-Classic Revival in commercial architecture.
Completed at a cost of nearly $150,000, Austin entrepreneur Ernest Nalle dedicated his new theater to his father and former mayor of the city, Joseph Nalle. On October 11, 1915, eight months after construction bids were taken, the majestic theatre formally opened its doors. Conceived by the noted theatre designer John Eberson, it was built to accommodate various forms of live entertainment, such as vaudeville, musicals, and legitimate theatre, as well as motion pictures.
The name was changed to the Paramount Theatre and remodeled in 1930, about the same time the theatre was acquired by the immensely successful showman Karl Hoblitzelle. The successful daily dichotomy of live and animated entertainment did not change, however, nor did the quality of entertainment diminish. Over the first forty years as an Austin theatre, performances were given by Helen Hayes, Katherine Hepburn, Orson Wells, Sara Bernhardt, the Barrymores, John Phillip Sousa, Anna Pavolva George M. Cohan, the Metropolitan Opera, and Mikail Mordkin and His Russian Dance Troupe. But as motion pictures increased in popularity, the live performances gradually decreased. By 1960, the Paramount presented motion pictures almost exclusively.
Then in 1975, the lease was acquired from Interstate Theatres by Paramount Theature for the Performing Arts, Inc., a group intent on reestablishing a performing arts center in Austin. The new management has since brought to the Paramount stage Dave Brubeck, the Houston Grand Opera, the National Dance Company of Mexico, Peter Nero, the Michael Sokoloff Dance Ensemble, and the production of two musical comedies, "Carnival" and "West Side Story". In addition, classic films of the 1930's and 1940's are exhibited regularly.
Bibliography
Travis County Collection, Austin Public Library, Karl Hoblitzelle Theatre Arts Collection, The University of Texas at Austin Library.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
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.