Bethesda Theatre
National Register Nomination
Significance
8. Statement of Significance
The Bethesda Theatre is locally significant for the following reasons: (1) It is a highly significant example of a 1930s Art Deco neighborhood cinema designed by the firm of the world-renowned “Dean of American Theatre Architects,” John Eberson; (2) It was the premier facility in the regionally important chain of independent movie theaters operated by Sidney Lust; (3) As a major contributor to the development of the central business district of Bethesda, Maryland, it played a significant role not only in the history of the Bethesda community but also in the 20th- century suburbanization of the Nation’s Capital region; (4) In the geographical contexts of Montgomery County and the nation’s capital region, the Bethesda Theatre is now a rare example of an Art Deco neighborhood cinema from Hollywood’s Golden Age, and its importance to Montgomery County has been duly acknowledged by virtue of the 1985 designation of the Bethesda Theatre on Montgomery County’s Master Plan for Historic Preservation. The Bethesda Theatre meets National Register Criteria A, B, and C, and its areas of significance are architecture, entertainment/recreation, and social history.
The Theatre meets National Register Criterion A because it is “associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history” -- specifically, the evolution of the motion picture industry as a major contributor to American art, entertainment, recreation, and popular culture.
The Theatre meets Criterion B because it is “associated with the lives of persons significant in our past” -- specifically, the celebrated theatre architect John Eberson and the regionally important entrepreneur and film impresario Sidney Lust.
The Theatre meets Criterion C because it embodies “the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or that represent the work of a master” -- specifically, the type, period, and method of construction embodied in 1930s Depression-Era Art Deco cinema (a building type quite distinct from the earlier 1920s “picture palace); it is one of a few surviving examples of this building type in the region that display in an accurate form the physical premises of Depression-era film presentation. In addition, it is the work of a design firm that was universally acknowledged in the architectural profession as the top firm nationally and internationally that specialized in theatre design.
Historical Background and Significance
The Bethesda Theatre opened on May 19, 1938 at an elaborately staged premiere denoting the importance of this large modern theater’s arrival in the growing suburb of Bethesda. Although originally named the Boro Theatre, its name was changed to Bethesda within a year to better identify its important location. The movie house was an immediate success and quickly became a community landmark. It was one of the early Bethesda buildings to have air conditioning and was the site of many community events and demonstrations, as well as cinema shows. Its operator, Sidney Lust, boasted of providing the most modern equipment and Art Deco design features, hiring the renowned theater architect John Eberson to ensure its prominence. After operating as a traditional movie house for more than four decades, it was converted to a restaurant/movie house format in 1983, known then as the Bethesda Cinema ?n Drafthouse. In 1990, it became the independent Bethesda Theatre Cafe. Much of the theater’s original decor remains (with the exception of its original seats), both exterior and interior, making it a valuable example of its type.
The Bethesda Theatre typifies the new type of large suburban movie theater that came to dominate the industry in its Golden Age, especially in the Washington, D.C. area. The 1930s and '40s were known as the Golden Age of Hollywood because studio ownership of production and exhibition peaked during this period. Nevertheless, even the film industry was not immune to the woes of the Great Depression, experiencing declining attendance nationwide. However, in Washington, where the New Deal drove the local economy, Washingtonians could still afford the movies. This relative prosperity meant that local theater owners could install such new technologies as air conditioning and invest in innovative designs. Thus, Washington enjoyed a theater building boom during the Great Depression matched by only a few other American cities. With its population growth and high per capita income, Washington was a pacesetter, and local movie house owners, along with the national chains, helped develop the Art Deco style of theater. Theaters built in and around the nation’s capital were nationally famous. Writers in the movie trade papers and architectural journals praised Washington theaters as some of the finest examples of the new modern style.
In 1935, the Penn Theater on Capitol Hill became one of the first new theaters constructed in the United States since the stock market crash. For this important project, the dominant Warner Bros. theater chain brought in architect John Eberson. During the 1920s Eberson had built a national reputation based on elaborately decorated atmospheric picture palaces that gave patrons the illusion of sitting in an exotic courtyard. In fact, the Penn had been planned in 1930 as a classic Eberson atmospheric palace. However, with the onset of the Depression, the project was delayed, and Eberson, who had learned of the International style from Europe, abandoned his earlier concepts for less adorned and more economical Art Deco designs that came to exemplify the second phase of his career. Thus, when the Art Deco-styled Penn opened, it initiated a new age in Washington theater design. Over the years, Eberson’s firm designed 13 theaters in the Washington area, including the Bethesda Theatre and the Silver Theatre in Montgomery County.
While the Art Deco Penn simply added to the possibilities of movie-going on Capitol Hill, another cinema house, the Uptown in Cleveland Park, was part of a significant social change in Washington and was a vanguard of the movies’ response to the car-driving public. This theater was built just down Connecticut Avenue from Washington’s first “Park and Shop” center of 1930, an early example of a national change in commercial design in which space for parking became the centerpiece of the shopping complex and a drawing card for patrons. Because of its revolutionary design, the Park and Shop was a success, and Cleveland Park’s commercial stretch prospered. When the Uptown opened in 1936, patrons flocked to the easy parking that was available just one block to the north at the Park and Shop. A greater elaboration of this concept was the Silver Theatre and Silver Spring Shopping Center, both designed by John Eberson, that opened September 15, 1938, in the heart of Silver Spring, which had grown from a quiet farm and residential area of Montgomery County into a major Washington suburb and Maryland’s second largest retail center. It seemed inevitable that a planned shopping center and theater would open there, carefully coordinated in the latest architectural fashion, with parking for 600 cars. Eberson’s other 1938 Washington-area theater, the Bethesda, also featured parking for hundreds of cars behind it. This project and others like it marked a turning point, as downtown city centers gradually ceased to be the primary locations for new trend-setting movie houses.
As the city’s growth opened new areas to development, local movie chains challenged the national chains, especially in the emerging residential sections of the District and new suburbs in Maryland and Virginia. The Art Deco style helped these new theaters stand out as neighborhood centers. These were modern movie theaters built not to evoke European elegance, but to serve the movie presentation and its audience. Planned parking, standard air conditioning, and Art Deco design were important in attracting customers, as these outlying theaters were usually second-run houses and had to offer non-movie attractions that would encourage patrons to wait for the later showings.
One of Washington’s major challengers to the national chains was Sidney Lust. His ten-theater chain included two theaters in the District, five in suburban Maryland, and three in Alexandria. Lust, who had begun his career with Warner Bros., struck out on his own in the 1930s and began to challenge Warner in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. The finest of Lust’s creations was the Bethesda Theatre, which opened May 19, 1938, designed by John Eberson, elaborately decorated and equipped with the most modern conveniences, and prominently featuring space for 500 cars in the back.
The Bethesda Theatre draws significance from its association with the renowned theater architect John Eberson. Eberson (1875-1954) was born in Austria and came to the United States in 1901. After serving as an apprentice to a St. Louis theater designer and contractor, Eberson established his own architectural firm in Hamilton, Ohio, specializing in vaudeville theater design. By 1910, his practice had grown so extensive that the firm moved to Chicago, only to relocate in New York City during the 1920s. among the important theater designs that emerged from the Eberson firm in these years were the Crown and Paradise theaters in Chicago, and the Majestic theaters in Savannah, San Antonio, and Houston. The latter was one of the first of the so-called “atmospheric” theaters, world famed for their mechanical special effects designed to create the illusion of floating clouds and shimmering stars on auditorium ceilings.
By the 1920s, Eberson had entered “the national spotlight and shook the complacency of the traditionalists among the palace architects,” according to theater historian David Naylor.(2) Dennis Sharp, in his book The Picture Palace, has said that Eberson, Thomas Lamb, and C. Howard Crane were the three preeminent architects whose work “characterized the movement towards luxury and elegance in movie palace architecture.(3) In the estimation of theater historian Ben M. Hall, Lamb and Eberson stood alone at the pinnacle:
Two individuals stand out among all the hundreds of architects who practice... during the golden age of the movie palace. Not only were they the most prolific, but their places in the history of the art were undisputed. One was Thomas Lamb... the other was John Eberson... whose influence on the climate of moviegoing in the Twenties was both original and enchanting.(4)
With the advent of the Depression, important changes in the scale and design of movie theaters were brought about. No longer was there money available to finance the construction of huge, lavishly-decorated, downtown movie palaces. The decline in movie attendance during the early years of the Depression pointed the way towards smaller, less ornate neighborhood houses when large-scale construction of theaters resumed in the mid-1930s. Eberson’s office weathered this storm and grasped the changing trends, creating streamlined economical designs which were well received and brought business back to the firm. Color, lighting, and fabrics were substituted for expensive ornamental plaster, and attention to construction, maintenance, and operational costs were made part of the designs. One of Eberson’s earliest and most important theaters of this period was the Rex Theatre built in Paris in 1932.
In Washington, beginning with the 1935 Penn Theater (of which only a remnant of the facade remains), Eberson’s firm designed 13 theaters, including the Bethesda and Silver Theatres in 1938. Most of these have been destroyed. The Cheverly Theatre (1947) in Prince George’s County has been restored by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission for use as a community theater.
The creator and owner of the Bethesda Theatre was Sidney B. Lust (1884-1955), one of the local theater chain owners who joined and extended the trend of Art Deco neighborhood cinemas. A native of New York City, he began his career as a road-show stage carpenter and then managed big-time vaudeville acts. He was a partner with Warner Bros. in opening their local film exchange when he came to Washington in 1914. A year later he went into business for himself, buying, distributing and selling motion picture films for independent producers in the Washington metropolitan area. He leased his first theater in the early 1920s on Ninth Street, NW, and then branched out into suburban Maryland, taking over theaters in Mount Rainier and Hyattsville, Maryland. At the time of his death, he was operating 11 motion picture theaters and owned a shopping center and other retail stores.
In a special supplement to the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Tribune published to commemorate the opening of the Boro Theatre, Lust was described as one of the first to realize the ever-growing demand for first class neighborhood theaters in the suburbs. He carefully researched the areas in which he chose to purchase or build theaters and made sure that his establishments were the best equipped. He had long felt that the Bethesda area needed and would support a large modern theater, in keeping with the prestige of the growing community. The publication carried letters of commendation from officials of towns where his theaters were located and others in state and national offices--including the mayors of Hyattsville and Rockville, State Senator Stedman Prescott, and U.S. Senator McKellar. Greetings from such Hollywood personalities as Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Shirley Temple, and W.C. Fields were also prominently featured.
The supplement also described the new theater in vivid detail, calling it “a triumph in modern theatre construction.” Interior spaces, most of which retain original details and finishes, included the “streamlined lobby... painted in modern designs” with mirrors, display cases, an elaborate coved ceiling, and indirect lighting. Off the domed foyer were “beautifully appointed” smoking rooms and lounges. The walls of the auditorium were surfaced in fabric over acoustical insulation or acoustical plaster, all surmounted by a highly painted ceiling that included a broad section painted in an “astral”design on a blue background--perhaps a holdover from Eberson’s atmospheric period. Air conditioning grills were hidden in a “decorative trough... suspended from the center of the ceiling.” Seating for 1,000 was of the best quality and carefully arranged for good viewing. The stage was described as “the largest in the suburban area and... equipped to handle presentation acts.” Also of the highest quality and latest design were the Carrier Air Conditioning equipment, RCA Victor High Fidelity Sound System, and the projection equipment. Construction was said to exceed “the requirements of the strict state laws,” and the projection booth was described as fireproof, closing its doors and portholes automatically in case of a fire.(5)
The significance of the Bethesda Theatre must also be evaluated in the context of the prestige and importance of the Bethesda community, which has grown between the two World Wars to become a major suburban center. Originally a crossroads and agricultural community that was not given the name of a nearby Presbyterian meeting house until 1871, the town experienced little growth until the 1890s, when the first electric railroad line arrived on Wisconsin Avenue and continued on Old Georgetown Road to Alta Vista. Land companies began buying farmland and subdividing it for residential development. Commercial growth centered on Wisconsin Avenue, with some industrial activity to the west depending on the B&O Railroad’s freight-only Georgetown Branch of 1910.
Yet all this, it seems, was in preparation for the true real estate boom of the 1920s, promoted by such factors as the establishment of the Bank of Bethesda in 1919, the founding of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission in 1918, and increasing use of the automobile as a means of commuting. From 1920 to 1930, the population of Bethesda increased from 4,800 to 12,000, becoming approximately 30% of Montgomery County’s population. These trends promoted the growth of Bethesda’s commercial district. New construction included the Tudor- styled Leland Shopping Center of 1926-27, the Bank of Bethesda (1926), the C&P Telephone Company’s Bethesda Exchange (1928), and the Leland School (1928), as well as numerous small businesses.
Even with the coming of the Great Depression, Bethesda, along with the rest of the Washington area, was relatively protected and benefitted from the coming of the New Deal. Construction of new buildings reflected the growing importance of the community. Public works included the new Post Office (1938), Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (1935), and the Bethesda Farm Women’s Market (1934), a self-help effort to sell produce directly to families living in the area. Also stimulating activity in downtown Bethesda were the development of the National Institutes of Health complex in 1938 and the Bethesda Naval Hospital, begun in 1939. With the Bethesda Theatre leading the way, commercial enterprises that were built included the Pumphrey Funeral Home (1935), the F.W. Woolworth Store (1938), the Little Tavern hamburger restaurant (1939), and Chevy Chase Chevrolet (1939), one of more than 20 auto-related businesses in Bethesda at the time. Between 1930 and 1940, the population had more than doubled to 26,000, indicating that Bethesda was a major contributor to the suburbanization of the Nation’s Capital area.
Footnotes
(2) David Naylor, American Picture Palaces: The Architecture of Fantasy (New York, 1981), 68.
(3) Dennis Sharp, The Picture Palace (London and New York, 1969), 74.
(4) Ben M. Hall, The Best Remaining Seats: The Story of the Golden Age of the Movie Palace (New York, 1961), 95.
(5) “Boro Theatre Opens Thursday,” Bethesda-Chevy Chase Tribune, May 17, 1938, B1- B6.
Anyone interested in this matter, especially Montgomery County residents, should contact Linda Lyons, co-chair of ADSW's preservation committee, about supporting ADSW's position and helping with the work of the committee.
Created November 5, 1998