Missouri Theatre

St. Joseph, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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Built in St. Joseph, Missouri, and completed in July 1927, the Missouri Theater is an atmospheric cinema designed by the prominent Kansas City firm Boller Brothers, with sculpture by Waylande Gregory. Commissioned by local attorney Joseph Goldman and constructed by the Capital Building Company of Lincoln, Nebraska, the theater blends Art Deco and Moorish Revival detailing to create an exotic interior: its single balcony overlooks a house designed as an open tented courtyard adorned with Assyrian and Persian architectural ornaments. Originally equipped for both cinema and live performance—featuring an orchestra pit, fly loft, dressing rooms, and a Wurlitzer theater organ—it operated as a movie house until 1970. The city of St. Joseph acquired the theater in 1978 to establish a performing arts center. Following renovation in 2002, which removed a 1960s canopy and restored the marquee, the building was recognized as part of the St. Joseph Commerce and Banking Historic District and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

Movement

Moorish Revival architecture

Type: theatre building, movie theater, commercial building
Heritage: National Register of Historic Places listed place
Place: St. Joseph, United States

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Location

39.76611, -94.85056