Historian and neon-restorer Mike Shaughnessy of West Seattle displays letters from the late-1950s Coliseum marquee on June 24, 2023. (photo by Todd Hewitt, owner of Big Top Curiosity Shop and a fabrication-restoration specialist)
Letters from the late-1950s Coliseum marquee (see background below) soon may see the light of day, thanks in part to historian and neon-restorer Mike Shaughnessy of West Seattle. The former theater, which in 2023 is serving as a rotating art space, houses the letters and may make one or more sets available for an exhibit of old Seattle artifacts. The photo above represents the first time in more than 30 years that Coliseum marquee letters have been arranged to spell the theater’s name. Stay tuned for details!
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THEN1: Designed exclusively as a movie house, the Coliseum at 500 Pike St. in August 1925 promotes actress Colleen Moore in the silent film “The Desert Flower.” For more Coliseum details and many more photos from the 1920s, visit PaulDorpat.com. (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)THEN2: In June 1950, the Coliseum’s altered half-dome marquee advertises “Kill the Umpire,” a baseball comedy with Seattle diamond clown Bill Schuster in a bit part as a shortstop. (David Eskenazi collection)THEN3: In May 1987, nearly three years before the Coliseum closed, its rotating circular marquee with neon pillar, sans Oscar statue, advertises “Evil Dead II.” (Courtesy Colin Campbell Design)NOW: Boarded up and backed by the 520 Pike Building, the 1916 terra-cotta Coliseum Theatre (until 2020 a Banana Republic store) shines in the late July sun. (Clay Eals)
Published in The Seattle Times online on Sept. 11, 2022
and in PacificNW Magazine of the printed Times on Sept. 8, 2022
Priteca’s captivating Coliseum still shines brightly downtown
By Clay Eals
Back in 1989 when I was helping to save West Seattle’s Admiral Theatre, word came out that downtown’s Coliseum Theatre, which opened in 1916, also was endangered. So I did what came naturally — went there to see a film. In it, Morgan Freeman portrayed the notoriously tough New Jersey high-school principal Joe Clark. Based on a song, its title was “Lean on Me.”
To appreciate the grandeur of what was considered the nation’s first movie palace, I climbed to the top of its balcony. The view was startling. I sat mere feet from the Italian Renaissance-style ceiling beams. The rake was so steep that only by splaying my knees could I glimpse the screen far below.
“Tremors,” March 11, 1990.
Today, as a theater, the Coliseum is largely a memory, its closing night coming 32 years ago, on March 11, 1990, with the sci-fi thriller “Tremors.”
When a plan emerged in 1992 to restore and convert the Coliseum to a Banana Republic outlet, then-Seattle Mayor Norm Rice declared, “There won’t be a more stunning building this side of the Taj Mahal” in India. The clothier operated inside the city-landmarked structure from 1994 until the pandemic sank the store in 2020.
THEN4: In 1916, young architect “Benny” Priteca works inside the Coliseum building he designed. (Museum of History & Industry 2011.49.29)
The trendsetting, terra-cotta Coliseum was one of 60 major West Coast theaters (including the Pantages chain and, yes, the still-operating Admiral) designed by architect Bernard “Benny” Marcus Priteca (1886-1971). With 2,400 seats and hailed by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as “the last word in picture playhouse construction,” the Coliseum opened when Priteca was just 26.
Scotland-born into an eastern European Jewish family, Priteca had been lured to Seattle by the city’s first world’s fair, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. His affection blossomed. As he told The Seattle Times’ Don Duncan while puffing on a cigar eight months before his death, “Washington and Oregon are the world!”
His designs — the lifelong bachelor never retired — extended to Seattle’s Bikur Cholim synagogue (now Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute), Renton’s now-gone Longacres racetrack and even a Paige auto grille and windshield. But the stage was his steadfast siren.
Arguably his most captivating creation was the Coliseum, whose showcase signage changed with the times. Notably, its concave corner half-dome, topped by a massive glass cupola, gave way in late 1950 to a rotating circular marquee and neon pillar featuring filmdom’s golden Oscar. The weather-damaged statue was removed in 1966.
Priteca told Duncan he wished that “Seattle would just stop growing, period.” Perhaps he also would have liked his Coliseum to screen movies forever. It still shines at Fifth & Pike. As the “Lean on Me” lyrics proclaim, “… there’s always tomorrow.”
WEB EXTRAS
Thanks to Lawrence Kreisman , Wendy Malloy, Dave Eskenazi, Colin Campbell and Gavin MacDougall for their help with this installment!
To see Jean Sherrard‘s 360-degree video of the “Now” prospect and compare it with the “Then” photos, and to hear this column read aloud by Clay, check out our Seattle Now & Then 360 version of the column.
Below are an additional video, 28 additional photos (including a gallery of 22 early 1920s Coliseum images from Historic Seattle) and 49 historical clips from The Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer online archive (available via Seattle Public Library) and Washington Digital Newspapers, that were helpful in the preparation of this column. These include five previous “Now & Then” columns related to Priteca and the Coliseum by column founder Paul Dorpat!
(VIDEO: 6:51) Click the image above to see video of Seattle theater historian Lawrence Kreisman discussing archiect B. Marcus Priteca and the Coliseum Theatre. (Clay Eals)An alternate view of the magnificent exterior of the Coliseum. (Clay Eals)An alternate view of the magnificent exterior of the Coliseum. (Clay Eals)An alternate view of the magnificent exterior of the Coliseum. (Clay Eals)An alternate view of the magnificent exterior of the Coliseum. (Clay Eals)An alternate view of the magnificent exterior of the Coliseum. (Clay Eals)1923 Coliseum, “The Fighting Blade.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “A Self-Made Failure.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “A Son of the Sahara.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Cytherea.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Her Night of Romance.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Inex from Hollywood.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Sandra.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Sundown.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1924 Coliseum, “Those Who Dance.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “Graustark.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “Her Sister from Paris.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “If I Marry Again.” (Courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “Infatuation.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “New Toys.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “Shore Leave.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “The Half Way Girl.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “The Marriage Whirl.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “The New Commandment.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “The Talker.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1925 Coliseum, “Why Women Love.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)1926 Coliseum, “Mlle. Modiste.” (Frank Jacobs, courtesy Historic Seattle)
3 thoughts on “Seattle Now & Then: Priteca and the Coliseum, 1916, 1925, 1950, 1987”
Few realize that the magnificent balcony in the Coliseum was the work of structural engineer Henry Bittman – who later became an architect responsible for the design of numerous local landmarks including the nearby Eagles Auditorium Building. Before moving to Seattle in 1906, Bittman worked in Chicago for the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company, learning there principles of long-span truss design that he employed to engineer the roofs and balconies of multiple theatres in Seattle, Portland, and Victoria BC. Despite its success, the Coliseum Theatre was the only building on which Priteca and Bittman worked together.
Before The Cinerama was remodeled, The Cinerama had architectural drawings of a movie theater on each interior stair landing. The theater looked too old to be The Cinerama, but when you looked closer you could see that it was The Coliseum Theater. The Coliseum and The Cinerama were never under common ownership, so why another theater’s plans were posted in The Cinerama is a mystery.
Banana Republic was built inside the lower theater area, and occasionally on Evening Magazine and on Facebook pages you could see the larger interior of the theater, including the balcony section without seats.
In Walla Walla, the Macy’s was in a couple of buildings that included a theater, and they didn’t try to disguise the theater interior. What could be more glamorous than buying clothes in a movie theater?
Few realize that the magnificent balcony in the Coliseum was the work of structural engineer Henry Bittman – who later became an architect responsible for the design of numerous local landmarks including the nearby Eagles Auditorium Building. Before moving to Seattle in 1906, Bittman worked in Chicago for the Strauss Bascule Bridge Company, learning there principles of long-span truss design that he employed to engineer the roofs and balconies of multiple theatres in Seattle, Portland, and Victoria BC. Despite its success, the Coliseum Theatre was the only building on which Priteca and Bittman worked together.
Before The Cinerama was remodeled, The Cinerama had architectural drawings of a movie theater on each interior stair landing. The theater looked too old to be The Cinerama, but when you looked closer you could see that it was The Coliseum Theater. The Coliseum and The Cinerama were never under common ownership, so why another theater’s plans were posted in The Cinerama is a mystery.
Banana Republic was built inside the lower theater area, and occasionally on Evening Magazine and on Facebook pages you could see the larger interior of the theater, including the balcony section without seats.
In Walla Walla, the Macy’s was in a couple of buildings that included a theater, and they didn’t try to disguise the theater interior. What could be more glamorous than buying clothes in a movie theater?