The Capitol Theatre

3556 Sacramento St. | map |

Opened: Late 1913 or early 1914. The location is on the north side of the street between Laurel and Locust in the Presidio Heights / Pacific Heights neighborhood.

Architects: Fabre & Bearwald. The plans are dated September 1913. The facade elevation is from the set of plans in the Gary Parks collection. He comments: "It does have quite a pleasing front—well and clearly drawn." Fourteen images from the plans are lower on the page. 

Seating: About 250.

The Capitol was mentioned in a bit in Moving Picture World in 1914 as being run by a Mr. Happenkoss, who was also involved in the Elite/Vogue Theatre, nearby at 3290 Sacramento. At the time, the Capitol was running only three days a week.

Closing: It appears it didn't make it much past 1916. Jack Tillmany reports that in August 1917 a permit was granted to L. Loustau, the same gentleman who commissioned the building as a theatre, to operate a public garage at the theatre's address. 

In 1920 it was operated by Henry R. Hogan as the... (wait for it...) Capitol Auto Repair. Gary Parks muses: "I wonder if they kept the theatre’s signage in place during that time?"

In 1922 it went up for auction. In 1927 it was taken over by William B. Findley and operated up to 1940 as an auto repair business. From 1945 to 1953 it housed De Marta & Marino, interior and exterior painters. In 1957 the building was occupied by Edward Grandi of Grandi Electric Company, who did the electric work on the upgrading of Coit Tower. In 1988 it was Circa Atelier, Antique Restoration. 

 

 

From 1996 to 2000 it was occupied by Anna's of San Francisco. The ad appeared in the May 19, 1996 issue of the Examiner. 

By 2005 the location was occupied by Alleviate Physical Therapy. Since at least 2008 it's been the Synergy Fitness Studio. Thanks to Jack Tillmany for researching the various tenants of the building and locating the Examiner ad. 

 

 The former theatre is in the center of this 2015 Google Maps image. 

 

A detail from the Google image. Gary comments: "Look how much of the upper facade is there! Even lightbulb sockets survive along part of the top. And on each side, those brown squares are survivors of the rosette panels which were centered by lightbulbs. Terrific!"

 

 

Images from the 1913 blueprints in the Gary Parks collection:  

Location and ownership information from one of the sheets. 

Information on the architects and the engineer.

A fine look at the facade of the new building. 

A detail of the left side of the facade. Gary comments: "And check out those rosettes which faced directly out, with a lightbulb in the center of each." 

 

 

A closer look at the ornament on the pediment. 

 

 

The illuminated rosettes. 

 

At the right it's a section through the entrance. The doors we see are from the exit passageway along the house left side of the theatre. 

 

 

A detail of the window above the doors from the exit passage. 

 

The floorplan of the entrance with the name as "CAPITAL" in the tile in front of the boxoffice. The one restroom is on the right.

 

 

The floorplan for the booth and office upstairs and a reflected ceiling plan for the ticket lobby. 

 

 

At the top it's a section through the auditorium with a look at the house left wall. In the center it's a foundation plan. At the bottom is a plan view of the main floor. Gary comments: "Can’t say much about the interior—not much there. Very narrow house with the exits all down one side."

A detail of the street end of the section drawing.

 

 

The screen end of the section drawing, with the back wall at the right serving as the screen. 

 

 

And here's the moment we've been waiting for: the proscenium. It was to be a 16' x 18' picture. Gary comments: "A screen that literally went wall to wall—leaving just enough space for some very narrow molding. Good thing the theatre didn’t last long enough to attempt ‘Scope!"

Thanks, Gary! 

More information: Well, there isn't any yet on this one. 

If this wasn't the Capitol Theatre you were looking for, perhaps head to the pages on two others that at times used the name: the Rio Theatre at 2240 Union St. and the Cort Theatre at 46 Ellis St.

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.

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