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Loew's Theatre (Akron Civic Theatre)
Akron, Ohio
Of the three Eberson theatres surviving in Ohio, this is by far the largest and most elaborate. (The others are in Canton and Marion.) It occupies a long and slightly crooked site, with a low, narrow entrance corridor leading to a huge lobby which genuinely deserves to be called "grand." Styled as a refectory, its great scale and rich ornament are the equal of anything Eberson ever did in this line. As did most other theatre architects, Eberson often repeated himself, recycling design elements from one job to another, but the Akron Loew's is like no other, especially in the auditorium. The massive constructions fronting the organ chambers project so far into the house they seem like free-standing pavilions, an illusion greatly enhanced when the ceiling lighting is on behind them. Once Loew's began buying organs other than hybrid MoIlers, they gave all nine of their four-manual contracts to Robert Morton, but the three-manual trade was divided, with Wurlitzer getting nearly two-thirds of it. Loew's first Wurlitzer was a Style 235 for the State Theatre in St. Louis in 1924; the Akron organ was the last. The organ remains in place and in use.
As his own decorator, architect John Eberson was in a position to exercise more control over his theatres than other architects enjoyed. The lobby walls are expanses of textured plaster, punctuated by a great deal of cast ornament. The ceiling displays an interesting combination of coffering on the horizontal portion and beamwork on the slopes, all of it with polychrome stenciling. Photos courtesy of the Theatre Historical Society of America |
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