11 Powell St. | map |
Opening: December 15, 1890 as the Powell Street Theatre. The Schwartz Brothers were the initial proprietors.
The theatre was on the west side of Powell between Eddy and Ellis St. opposite the entrance to the Baldwin Theatre. It was on the north side of the St. Ann's Building, which was on the northwest corner of Powell and Eddy. The 1903 city directory gives the address of the theatre (then called the Columbia) as 9 Powell, the 1905 directory says 11 Powell. In addition to the theatre, the building also included apartments.
Seating: After the 1892 renovations that turned it into Stockwell's it had 1,624 with two balconies. The main floor had 510 seats, the 1st balcony 370, the 2nd balcony 564.
Architect: Peter Richard Schmidt designed the building and a Mr. R. Ringrose was the contractor. Thanks to Art Siegel for the research. He comments:
Stage specifications: Proscenium: 37' wide x 40' high | Stage depth: 48' from footlights to back wall | Curtain line to footlights: 3' | Stage wall to wall: 70' | Distance between fly girders: 54' | Grid height: 74' | Depth under stage: 10' | Number of traps: 6, "located regular" Illumination: electric and gas
History: Work was underway for this new theatre in May 1890. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this item via the California Digital Newspaper Collection that appeared in a column listing "Builders Contracts" in the May 25, 1890 Daily Alta California:
A June 2, 1890 Daily Alta California item Art found buried deep in a column of real estate news revealed that Mr. R. Ringrose was the contractor and P.R. Schmidt was the architect:
"Powell, near Eddy — Four-story brick building; owners, Schwartz bros.; architect, P. R. Schmidt; contractor, R. Ringrose; cost, $30,500. The above is for brick-work, etc., on new Theatre building, and does not include carpenter work, painting or plumbing. The grading work has been reported."
In July 1890 two eleven year old burglars got into the Louvre Restaurant next door via the excavations for the new theatre. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating a story that appeared in the July 9, 1890 San Francisco Call. Part of the report headed "Boy Burglers - Police Capture a Bevy of Bad Children":
The opening was December 15, 1890 with a show headlined by "Baggesen's High Class Vaudevilles." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this ad in the December 10 Daily Alta California. It's on the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection.
A description of the theatre appeared the day before the opening in the "Mimic World" column of the December 14, 1890 Daily Alta California. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this account:
"The Opening of the New Powell-Street Theatre. An important event in the local amusement world will be the opening of the new Powell Street Theatre to-morrow evening by the Schwartz Brothers, John E. Cain manager. The theatre will be one of the most elegant and commodious places of amusement in the city, and will be conducted in a first-class manner in every particular. It is the object of the management to present first-class vaudeville and specialty performances at popular prices, and to make the house so attractive that people will drop in and spend part of an evening when they have not the time or inclination to sit through a four or five act play. Such places of amusement have of late years been growing in favor in the large Eastern cities, and they supply the needs of a large class of people who prefer to take their amusement in homeopathic doses, and frequently.
"The stage has been constructed with all the recent improvements, and will permit of the presentation of any kind of performance, from a farce-comedy to a grand spectacular sensation. The auditorium is handsomely and richly decorated, and is finished with the latest pattern of opera chairs, and connected with the theatre are smoking-rooms and every desirable convenience. The theatre has been constructed with special reference to safety in the event of a fire or panic of any kind, and while the building is practically fireproof, an ample number of exits have been provided in order to empty the house in a very few minutes.
"For the opening night the entertainment will consist of Baggesen's High-Class Vaudevilles, secured in Europe and from the best American attractions. Among them will be seen Baggesen, the human corkscrew; Mazuz and Abacco, the Arab wonders; the great Sablon, mimic; the Walton brothers, musical kings; Miss Rosie Lee, an operatic vocalist; the Sheridans, comedy sketch artists; Bellac and Aonda, wonder-workers in magic, and many other clever specialty artists. There will be matinees Sunday afternoons at 2 o'clock."
The Chronicle had this article about the new Powell Street Theatre in their December 16, 1890 issue:
An ad that appeared in the February 19, 1891 San Francisco Call.
The Schwartz team were still involved but the thatre was soon managed by a Mr. C.D. Hess of the C.D. Hess Grand Opera Company, who soon closed it. While it was closed there were renovations by yet another management team. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this item deep in the "Theatres" column of the April 12, 1891 San Francisco Call:
" 'Master and Man.' The date of the opening of the new Powell-street Theater with Pettitt and Sims' melodrama is put forward to Saturday evening, April 18th.... Colonel Wood, the well-known theater architect, has made some important improvements in the auditorium of this theater. It is now pleasant to the sight, and so arranged that the audience may enjoy the performance in comfort."
The April 18 opening under the new management team was reviewed in the April 19, 1891 San Francisco Call:
"All New Scenery" was promised for Dion Boucicault's "Formosa." It was noted that Mark Thall and Alf Ellinghouse were managing but the Schwartz Brothers were still involved as "Proprietors." It's an ad appearing in the May 8, 1891 San Francisco Call. "Avoid the crush to-night." Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it.
"Formosa" was to be the last show for this new management team. By the middle of May the theatre closed again, unable to pay the salaries of the actors. Art Siegel located this item in the May 14, 1891 Santa Cruz Sentinel:
The May 15, 1891 Morning Union noted in their "Scissors and Pen" column:
"The new Powell street theater, San Francisco, has closed for want of patronage."
In a September 7, 1891 San Francisco Call item located by Art Siegel headed "Was It Bunco?," the paper reported that the house had been leased by a Mr. A.R. Knapp who tried to pass off an inferior show as some kind of benefit, and the audience revolted. Disquiet and police attention ensued.
Becoming the Stockwell: A new lessee and yet another round of renovations was announced in the January 9, 1892 San Francisco Call. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the story:
"The Powell-Street House to Be Made One of the Handsomest in the Country. Lovel R. Stockwell will sever his connection with the management of the Alcazar Theater February 29th, prox., after being identified with that house for six years. He goes to his new quarters on Powell street, for which he has signed a lease running a term of years. The work of alteration will commence there on the 20th inst., and when the changes are completed, Stockwell's new theater promises to be one of the handsomest places of amusement in America.
"The present auditorium will be entirely rearranged with a new dress circle, balcony and gallery. Everything new inside, except the walls and the interior, will be finished in ivory and gold. The cost of these alterations will probably reach $50,000. On the 1st of August the new theater will probably be opened to the public. Mr. Stockwell proceeds to New York early in March next for a list of attractions for this house, which are to be of the highest character.
"It is no secret that in point of talent Stockwell's new theater will enter the field as a competitor with the Baldwin, and will place itself squarely on the same plane with it in regard to the kind of attractions engaged. Mr. George Osbourne will join forces with Mr. Stockwell in the management - a strong team in the opinion of the public. Mr. Alf Ellinghouse, long identified with theatricals on this Coast, will be interested with Stockwell and Osbourne, and take the position of manager of the new theater."
In February 1894 O'Neill was performing his big hit "The Count of Monte Cristo." The program appears on the Yale University website as part of their Eugene O'Neill collection.
Becoming the Columbia: Leonard Grover was the next to take over the operation. His lease was up in early 1895 and there was then another tenant and name change as it became the Columbia Theatre. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this item in the "Local News In Brief" column of the February 17, 1895 San Francisco Call:
In March 1895 Stockwell looked back on his his financial troubles and why he had lost the the theatre in an article titled "Stockwell and His Debts." Over a "late breakfast in the cafe of the California Hotel" he told this story:
"There has been a good deal of talk about my getting into debt and the reason why I left San Francisco... The fact is that the explanation is a good deal more simple than people think. It was a mistake to say the Stockwell Theater did not pay— it did, but I was in debt when I started it and was badly in need of ready money. It cost somewhere about $60,000 to renovate the auditorium and buy scenery, etc. The owners agreed to pay $35,000 for building the front, and if the bill exceeded that I was to pay half. The front cost nearly $40,000, and that added to my debt.
"The agreement was that I was to have a lease of five years, with the privilege of renewing it for another five years. Well, the theater opened, and we paid off a good part of the debt. The Daly engagement was a very profitable one, but even that did not put us quite on our feet. After the holidays things went worse, and ready money was terribly scarce. On the 7th of July, a year and a half ago, 'Maine and Georgia' pulled us out again, and in the following November I made a contract to take that play to New York... and the theater here, under Mr. Ellinghouse's management, had dwindled down to nothing.
"The rent was not paid; they seized the scenery, and that's how the theater was closed. This summer, though, I am coming back to it again for eight weeks, under Gottlob and Friedlander's management. We shall present Daly's latest melodrama and Pinero's 'Magistrate,' which has been entirely rewritten. The company is not made up yet, but we expect to bring about eight people from the East, and shall do our best to make all the productions as good as anything that has been done here."
Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the story in the March 6, 1895 San Francisco Call. It's on the website of the California Digital Newspaper Collection.
The actual opening as the Columbia was May 13, 1895 with 'Jake' Gottlob and a Mr. Friedlander running the operation. Later Melville Marx became a partner and eventually Friedlander was gone. Art Siegel located this account of the opening in the May 14, 1895 San Francisco Call:
"The Columbia Theater. There was a crowded house at the Columbia Theater last night, it being the opening night under the new management. The foyer has been entirely renovated and presents the appearance of an elegant drawing-room. The interior of the theater, which was in the hands of painters, upholsterers and decorators for some time, was a transformation that attracted a great deal of attention and much favorable comment. The drop-curtain, a new one, is a gem, being a painting entitled 'The Merry Quartette,' illustrative of child-life.
"As one of the ladies in the audience remarked, 'This theater la a perfect bijou.' 'Sweet Lavender,' the domestic drama presented, was well received and the members of the company sustained in a capital manner the parts assigned them. Miss Hope Ross as Lavender acted her part so true to life and carried out the character as the author would have it so well that she was the recipient of frequent and generous applause. The ladies' dresses worn in the drama were remarkably handsome and envied by many before the footlights. The orchestra, under the leadership of E. E. Schmitz, until recently leader at the New California, came in for a share of the well deserved praise. 'Sweet Lavender' will hold the boards during the week."
An undated facade view taken after the name change to Columbia. It's a photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. There's also a version on Calisphere from the Museum of Performance and Design Performing Arts Library.
Some repair work was going on in 1898. Art Siegel came across this item in the California Architect and Building News, Vol. XIX, No. 2, February, 1898, page iv:
The cover for the April 1898 program for "Shore Acres" that's in the collection of Jon Perdue. Thanks to Jon for scanning the program for a post on the BAHT Facebook page. The full 16 page publication is reproduced at the bottom of the page.
A main floor seating chart that appeared in the 1900 edition of the San Francisco Blue Book. Thanks to Glenn Koch for sharing the three images of pages from a copy of the book that's in his collection.
A page from a February 1906 program from the Rick Bellamy collection. Florence Roberts and Max Figman were appearing in "The Strength of the Weak" by Alice M. Smith. It was a post on the BAHT Facebook page. Thanks, Rick!
The theatre (on the right) in ruins after the 1906 earthquake and fire, one of eight major downtown venues destroyed. On the left is the St. Ann's Building, on the NW corner of Powell & Eddy. The photo by Lisie C. Green is from the San Francisco Public Library collection.
Looking north on Powell with the theatre ruins on the left. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating the photo by an unknown photographer that appears on the Open SF History Project website. It's from the Bill Kostura collection. It's the St. Francis Hotel in the distance and the Flood Building on the right.
A UC Berkeley Bancroft Library photo looking north on Powell from Market. That's the Flood Building on the right. Thanks to Mark Ellinger for locating the photo.
A view north on Powell from Market that appears in the USC Digital Library collection. On the left it's the St. Ann's Building on the corner with the theatre beyond.
Sorry, no theatre ruins in this shot but it's another interesting view of the neighborhood. It's a photo by C.L. Aydelotte on Calisphere from the collection of the California Historical Society.
We're looking across Mason St. down Eddy toward Powell St. The building that housed the Poodle Dog restaurant is on the corner with the ruins of the Kreling Building (on the site of the 1879-1903 Tivoli) and the St. Ann's Building beyond. The Columbia was just around the corner to the left on Powell. Across Powell it's the Flood Building and the Emporium on Market over to the right.
On March 10, 1930 the Columbia name moved yet again to the Orpheum Theatre on O'Farrell St. Orpheum had sold it in 1929 to Klaw and
Erlanger. The Orpheum, which had opened in 1909, was demolished in
1938. Its last use had been as a burlesque house.
Another theatre totally unrelated to these downtown houses that was
called the Columbia was a neighborhood house at 1101 Railroad Ave. (now
4601 3rd St.) running under that name from 1909 to 1913. After 1913 it
was called the Bay View and the Lorene or some variant of that.
More Information: See a listing for several other Stockwell's programs on the site World Cat. They list holdings at the California State Library - Sutro Library in San Francisco and the UC Bancroft Library in Berkeley.
Jack Tillmany's Arcadia Publishing book "Theatres of San Francisco" can be previewed on Google Books. It's available from Amazon or your local bookseller.
Thanks, Jon!
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