Existing comment:
Conceptual rendering for the Tivoli Theater, 1922
Movie house magnate Harry Crandall hired New Yorker Thomas W. Lamb, the nation's most renowned and prolific theater architect of that era, to design a theater in the Columbia Heights neighborhood that would equal or surpass the grandeur of Washington's downtown theaters. Lamb's first design for the Italian Renaissance style building, shown in this photograph, met Crandall's expectations with its highly ornate exterior and numerous gilded arches, but not his budget. The conceptual drawing nevertheless shows the anticipated hustle and bustle around the theater, with a bevy of Model Ts and the 14th Street trolley tracks waiting to transport Washington's eager movie patrons. |