NPS Description

216 East Broadway Street. Broadway Theater, ca. 1920. 

Contributing 

Description

Art Deco/Moderne three-story red brick theater with a 44 foot frontage on East Broadway Street. There are no window openings on the third floor except for a square vent with horizontal slats and stone sill. The third floor has a slightly raised pattern of soldier and stretcher course bricks outlining brick panels; historic photos from the 1920s and 30s suggest that this was meant to be a decorative pattern rather than infilled windows. The second floor is covered in three rows of green enameled panels. The top row of paneling shows two square ghosting on each panel below a string course. Three replacement windows are centered on the second floor behind the marquee. The marquee separates the first and second floor and projects out over the sidewalk with decorative shapes, lighting, and space to announce the coming attractions. The name of the theater, “Broadway,” caps both sides of the marquee in neon lettering. The storefront is covered in four rows of green porcelain enamel panels with the base row being a darker shade of green. Three sets of glass and metal double doors are centered in a recessed entry under the marquee with white corbelling above. Smaller square ghosting above the doors in the recessed entry continues above and below the ticket box to the west of the entry and above the display case to the east of the entry. Original poster display cases flank both sides of the recessed entry also with square ghosting above. To the western edge of the façade is a green door with small square ghosting above. 

The south (rear) elevation is red painted stucco over brick on the lower elevation with red painted rusticated concrete block on the upper elevation. The stage entrance with projecting fabric awning is on the west end with an infilled arched doorway to the east end. A fourth story to the rear allows space for the fly loft equipment. 

The east and west (side) elevations are red painted brick on the lower elevations with red painted rusticated concrete block on the upper elevations. 

The interior retains most of its historic features. 

History 

The Broadway Theater sits on a double lot at 216 East Broadway. From the 1880s to the late 1890s, an agricultural implements store was located on the west half of the lot, with the east half remaining empty. The entire lot was empty in 1900, but in 1910 there is a two-story brick building, with a metal cornice, occupied by an “electric theatre” on the east half of the lot. Photographs from the period appear to show a standard early twentieth-century two-story commercial building, although according to Sanborn maps it had a carport at the rear. There is some confusion as to which movie theater this was. Some sources suggest it was the Vaudette, while others believe that was the theater at 208 East Broadway, adjacent to the Isabella Bank building, and this was a different theater. In 1920, this building was either removed or rebuilt to accommodate the double-wide Broadway Theater, which opened in December of 1920. It remains the Broadway Theater to today. 

Integrity Analysis 

The early Broadway Theater was more restrained in style than its current appearance, with a square projecting canopy, wood and glass entry doors with transoms, a classically decorated interior, and a blade sign on the upper half of the façade. In the early 1940s,5 the building was remodeled with an Art Deco/Moderne theme, featuring an enameled metal storefront and triangular marquee, a set of entry doors with curved glass panels, and a redecorated interior with Egyptian motifs. The building has changed very little since that time.

Sources 

Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps (Mt. Pleasant: 1884, 1890, 1895, 1900, 1910, 1924, 1931, 1950); Mt. Pleasant City Directories, 1925-1998; Past and Present of Isabella County, 1911; City of Mt. Pleasant Building Permits; historic photographs. 

5 A photo of the previous marquee advertises “Gone With the Wind” which was released in 1939.