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Tivoli Theatre

Architect
Thomas W. Lamb
Style
Renaissance Revival
City
Washington, DC
Tivoli Theatre
Photo: D Monack at English Wikipedia, Public domain
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Designed by prolific New York theater architect Thomas W. Lamb and completed in 1924 for $1 million, the Tivoli Theatre was one of Washington's most elegant movie houses until it closed in 1976. After sitting vacant for a quarter century and suffering vandalism and water damage, the building reopened in 2006 as home to the GALA Hispanic Theatre.

the building

Stucco and tile. Lamb's design mixes Italian Renaissance and Mediterranean Revival details — a stucco exterior, red tile roof, ornate cornices, and arched openings — with shops and offices along the 14th Street and Park Road frontages.

the style

The Tivoli's Renaissance Revival design draws on Italian and Mediterranean models, expressed through its stucco walls, red tile roofline, and arcades — a lavish treatment typical of the movie palaces Lamb built across the country in the 1920s.

More on Renaissance Revival

the architect

Thomas W. Lamb was a prominent New York theater architect; his Tivoli commission is linked in the historical record to Washington's Knickerbocker Theater, built during the First World War and designed by Reginald Geare.

significance

The Tivoli is a DC Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

nearby

All 315 buildings in Washington, DC