Warner Theatre Building (and Interior)
- Architect
- C. Howard Crane
- Year
- 1924
- City
- Washington, DC
The Warner Theatre Building, part of the office building at 1299 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, was designed by theatre architect C. Howard Crane of Detroit with Kenneth Franzheim and opened December 27, 1924, as the Earle Theatre. Developed by Aaron and Julian Brylawski, it was built as a movie palace for vaudeville and first-run silent films, complete with a rooftop garden, basement ballroom, and restaurant.
the building
The Neptune Room. The theatre's basement held a restaurant called the Neptune Room in the 1930s, part of a building that also included a rooftop garden and ballroom -- amenities meant to make a night at the movies feel like an event in itself.
The Roxyettes. Modeled on the Rockettes, the Earle's own precision dance troupe, the Roxyettes, performed before and after films through 1945, sharing the stage with guest acts including Red Skelton.
the architect
C. Howard Crane, based in Detroit, was a theatre specialist who designed the Earle with Kenneth Franzheim; the building was said on opening to be nearly the last word in theatre construction of its day.
significance
The Earle showed movies exclusively starting in 1945 and premiered This Is the Army in 1943 before later taking the Warner name. It is individually designated DC Historic Landmark #L_0404.
nearby
- Brownley Building
- District Building (John A. Wilson Bldg.)
- Federal-American National Bank
- Church of the Epiphany
- Westory Building
- Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company, Old Main Building