#Tower theater movie

Interestingly, the first floor appears to have had only a relatively workaday lobby. Some areas have glazed tiling on the walls. There is handsome tile work throughout, including in the first floor menвЂ™s room. What was once likely just inside the doors to the auditorium is one of those recessed ceilings, lit from beneath, like youвЂ™ll also find in places like the Avalon in Bay View and The Modjeska on Mitchell Street вЂ“ among other theaters. Remove the wall, however, and the space is restored to its original footprint. The organ pipe lofts are empty, and the original orchestra pit proved short-lived and has long since disappeared.ДЄ wall has been built to section the front half of the theater off from the balcony and the rear part of the first floor of the theater. The carpeting and rows of leather-covered seats are gone, but the walls still bear most of their decoration, though garishly painted. Nowadays, the stage floor has been removed, though the proscenium remains. The AnnenbergвЂ™s son, Walter, was born here in 1908 and became a publisher, philanthropist and diplomat. As at the Oriental, the original drapery was installed by Gimbel Brothers.ДЇor a time, the Tower and Oriental Theaters were owned by the Annenbergs, who arrived in Milwaukee from Chicago in 1906 and later went on to buy the Philadephia Inquirer.

The Oriental was the more lavish sibling, costing 50 percent more than the $1,000,000 Mediterranean-style Tower, but make no mistake, the Tower вЂ“ which was later part of the Fox chain вЂ“ was lovely, with its moorish arched openings, swirling Solomonic columns, painted murals, brass organ pipes in the upper boxes flanking the proscenium. The thriving Saxe company also built the Uptown, with 1,818 seats, in вЂ26 and 1,307-seat Plaza in вЂ27, as part of a building boom to insulate their success from the pressures brought to bear by the arrival of outside theater chains, wrote Larry Widen and Judi Anderson in their authoritative 'Silver Screens' book.

#Tower theater movie

The Tower was built by local cinema moguls, the Saxe Brothers вЂ“ Thomas and John вЂ“ as a 1,609-seat movie palace in 1926 to designs by Gustave Dick and Alex Bauer, whose 2,100-seat Oriental and 1,800-seat Garfield (both extant) would open the following year. The tan brick building has some ornate decoration, but thatвЂ™s not unusual in the area around 27th and Wells, which has some lovely facades. Though few passersby likely notice, The Tower Theater still stands. 27th St., which closed in 1975 and was purchased the following year by a health care facility, which used it as a cafeteria, and then by the county, which used it for meetings and offices. If you did all that, youвЂ™d have the theaterвЂ™s sibling, The Tower, 757 N. If the marquee outside was pulled down, leaving only a barren facade. If the walls were painted a patchwork of pastels. Imagine the loss to the city if it were to close. Next time you see a film at The Oriental Theater, stop and take a good look around.