The Fairyland Theatre

445 Divisadero St. | map |

Opened: 1911 as the Fairyland Theatre. The location was on the west side of the street between Fell and Oak. The short-lived Theodeon was across the street. Jack Tillmany notes that the theatre was listed in the August 1, 1911 edition of the telephone directory.

Architect: George T. Colmesnil, who had offices in the Lick Building. The drawing of the entrance comes from the plans for the project that are in the Gary Parks collection. See fourteen images from them lower on the page. Gary comments: 

"The architect of the Fairyland later became a partner with J. R. Miller, making it Miller & Colmesnil. Colmesnil later left, and a younger architect, whose name we all know, joined the firm, making it… Miller & Pflueger."

Seating: 400, according to Jack Tillmany's research. 

 

 

 

A March 30, 1912 ad that was located by Jack Tillmany. He notes that Louis C. Schindler also had a Fairyland Theatre in Sacramento. At the bottom of the page see the photo he located.  

 

"Moving Pictures." A look at the theatre from a page of the 1913 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating this on the copy that's in the Library of Congress collection. Note the map used a 443 address for the space. 

A 1914 flyer for the theatre from the Jack Tillmany collection. He calls your attention to the street name: "Not a typo -- this was the official spelling used until 1909 but as we see in this ad it took longer for the change to fully come into popular use." He adds: 

"My records indicate that after Schindler left it was operated by the Cory Brothers, (M.E. & W.A. Cory) who also opened the venue on Union Street, they called the Cory, which eventually became the Rio Theatre in 1941, aka Metro II in 1968." 

The Fairyland gets a mention on page 1871 of the September 16, 1916 issue of The Moving Picture World. Thanks to Chris Ellinger for finding the item via Google Books. The World noted:

"Cory Bros. have disposed of the Fairyland theater on Divisadero street to A.O. Smith, and W.A. Cory will now devote his attention exclusively to the Cory theater on Union street."  

A view south on Divisadero in 1919. That's Fell St. in the foreground. The arched entrance of the theatre can be seen in the third building from the corner. It's a detail from a photo taken from Hayes St. by John Henry Mentz. Thanks to Art Siegel for locating it in the SFMTA Photo Archive. 

 

A closer look, with a bit of compensation due to the angle.  The baby carriage is parked in front of the exit passageway that ran along the north side of the theatre. It's another detail that Art extracted from the SFMTA image. 

The Fairyland was listed in a September 4, 1921 Paramount Week ad in the Chronicle. The page can be viewed via Newsbank. 

Closing: The Fairyland was running until 1926. Jack Tillmany comments:   

 

"Fairyland closed in 1926, obviously as a result of the bigger, grander Harding Theatre opening just up the street 8 May 1926. It later became a church and in its last years it was blessed with those ubiquitous, trendy, heavily marketed Post-WWII gray asbestos shingles, which I always thought were ugly, and have since fallen into disfavor. Unfortunately, the theatre's end came so many years ago that nobody seems to remember it, or have taken a photo." 

 

 

 

"Not Mormons." By September 1926 the theatre had been churched. This ad located by Jack ran in the September 11 issue of the Examiner. Later it became the Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church. Note by this time they were using a 443 address.

 

Status: The building was destroyed by fire in 1965.  

 

 

Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating this article from the July 30, 1965 issue of the Examiner.

 

 

An interior view:

 

A photo from the Jack Tillmany collection. He says: "Maybe the long gone Fairyland on Divisadero. Maybe not." One clue is to note the sign at the head of that left aisle that looks like it could say "Fairyland." If it is the Fairyland it would have to be a photo taken after a later remodel as it doesn't match what's on the original plans. Another possibility is that it's a photo of the Fairyland Theatre in Sacramento.

 

 

Images from the plans for the theatre in the Gary Parks collection:  

 

A title block from sheet 3. The architect forgot to put his name on this sheet. 

 

 

A facade elevation. 

 

The elevation with all the details of the entrance. 

 

 

 The building's floorplan. Toilets were at either end of the lobby.

 

 

A detail of the ticket lobby's terrazzo design from the floorplan.

 

 

A section through the building. 

A detail from the section drawing showing the front of the building. 

 

 

 

In the ticket lobby looking toward the street. 

 

 A floorplan at booth level. The grilles at the left look out over the ticket lobby. The ones at the right are in the back wall of the auditorium.

 

 

The standee rail at the back of the auditorium. 

 

 

The back wall of the auditorium with the standee rail below and the booth above. Note the ladders to get upstairs. Gary comments: "I like the pair of ornamental wooden grilles flanking the booth—enabled the staff to view the audience."

 

 

A transverse section with a view of the stage and the back wall that would function as the screen. 

 

 

A detail from the section drawing showing the stage end of the building. 

 

 

A detail from the floorplan showing the stage end of the building. Thanks, Gary!

 

More information: 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. 

 

Louis C. Schindler's Fairyland Theatre in Sacramento. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for locating the image.

| back to top | San Francisco Theatres: by address and neighborhood | alphabetical list | list by architect | pre-1906 theatre list | home |