{"id":423307,"date":"2026-10-09T13:58:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423307\/"},"modified":"2026-10-09T13:58:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T13:58:17","slug":"how-the-tampa-theatre-finally-reopening-this-month-made-it-to-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/423307\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Tampa Theatre, finally reopening this month, made it to 100"},"content":{"rendered":"

Roughly two weeks before the Tampa Theatre’s 100th birthday party, the cinema was the set of an entirely different kind of show.<\/p>\n

Instead of buttery popcorn, the historic Duncan Auditorium smelled of wet paint and cleaning supplies. Workers in hard hats played a power-tool chorus of piercing beeps, thumps, screeches and thuds as they hammered and drilled closer to the end of a$30 million restoration and expansion<\/a>\u2014 this phase of it, anyway.<\/p>\n

For seven months, the venue’shistoric interior has looked more like the streets of New York City than a grand movie house. Some 65 feet of metal scaffolding soared to the domed ceiling, where workers slathered a coat of deep emerald paint onto the night sky. Before they swapped the constellation of lightbulbs for twinkling LEDs, some brave theater members even ascended to the rickety top to literally touch the stars.<\/p>\n

\"Times<\/p>\n

Times reporter Gabrielle Calise and Tampa Theatre operations manager Joey Hager climbed roughly 65 feet of scaffolding to reach the ceiling of the Duncan Auditorium in May 2026, which was then covered with a layer of primer paint during the early stages of restoration work.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, the Tampa landmark will hold an open house for the general public, as wellasa sold-out grand reopening Oct. 15, exactly 100 years after it opened.<\/p>\n

The restoration project is a fitting birthday present: New bathrooms and classrooms, upgraded tech and lighting, and an aesthetic refresh that brings the theater back in time to how it looked on opening day. Hopefully, it will also set the space up to last another 100 years.<\/p>\n

“The biggest challenge with this project, and the biggest challenge we have every day, is that kind of juxtaposition of the historic and the modern,” spokesperson Jill Witecki saidduring a recent tour. “How can we create a room that, when patrons walk in the front room, they are walking into 1926?”<\/p>\n

\"Tampa<\/p>\n

Tampa Theatre spokesperson Jill Witecki points to fresh paint in the mezzanine on Sept. 30. The first phase of the Second Century Campaign, totaling $24.5 million, includes the Duncan Auditorium restoration, upgrade tech and lightning, and the addition of an education wing. The second phase, which will cost about $6 million, will address accessibility and restore the Mighty Wurlitzer organ.<\/p>\n

Tampa’s ‘miracle’ theater was almost torn down<\/p>\n

Tampa has embarked on a dramatic transformation over the last two decades, adding a completed Riverwalk, Water Street<\/a> and a few skyscrapers in between. Amidst the growth, historic preservation efforts like the one at the city’s downtown theater are rare.<\/p>\n

But the Tampa Theatre, described by retired President and CEO John Bell as both an entertainment space and something of a Tampa history museum<\/a>, has long been championed by locals determined to keep it running.<\/p>\n

When the Tampa Theatre and its surrounding 10-story office building first opened, the Tampa Daily Times called it “one of the finest recreational and business structures in the south.”<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The cover of a special section that the Tampa Daily Times ran to celebrate the opening of the Tampa Theatre on October 15, 1926. The newspaper included preview photographs of the theater’s interior and exterior, an interview with architect John Eberson and pages of advertisements from neighboring businesses in Tampa that offered their well wishes to the theater.<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Workers screw in light bulbs at the Tampa Theatre on its opening day, October 15, 1926. A little over 50 years later, the landmark would be added to the National Register of Historic Places.<\/p>\n

Architect John Eberson was known for creating “atmospheric theaters,” fantastical buildings where moviegoers felt like they were watching a show under a velvety night sky. He adorned the Tampa Theatre with Mediterranean-inspired plasterwork, Italian tiles and a Spanish-style wrought-iron box office.<\/p>\n

Eberson would go on to design close to 100 of these atmospheric theaters around the world, though fewer than 20 are operational today. The Tampa Theatre was among the first theaters Eberson envisioned,and he originally came up with the concept after wintering in Florida.<\/p>\n

“I saw the value of putting nature to work and so have borrowed the color tones and designs that are found in the flowers and trees,” he told the Tampa Tribune in 1926. “The inhabitants of Spain and southern Italy live under the sun and enjoy the happiness nature affords them. So I decided their architecture probably would provide the best foundation for a theater.”<\/p>\n

\"\"\""When<\/p>\n

“When the Tampa Theatre opened on Oct. 15, 1926, it used 10,000 light bulbs, tons of formed plaster, hundreds of statues and boat-loads of antique reproductions to create its illusion,” wrote the then-St. Petersburg Times in 1986. “Construction took 18 months and cost $1 million.”<\/p>\n

Some 1,600 tickets to the grand opening sold out in two hours. Gov. John W. Martin and both the Tampa and Jacksonville mayors gave speeches.<\/p>\n

Tampans marveled at gargoyles and iron chandeliers while a 20-piece orchestra and the Mighty Wurlitzer organ accompanied the silent film “The Ace of Cads.” Live singers dazzled the crowd, who also soaked in a short comedy and a news reel.<\/p>\n

“Beautiful white pigeons and gayly colored parrots are perched here and there and a proud peacock surveys the audience from a high balcony,” wrote the Times in 1926. “Garlands of flowers, clambering vines and masses of tropical foliage combine to make the illusion complete. It is alive, and the audience itself is a part of the alluring picture.”<\/p>\n

The space was like nothing Tampa had ever seen \u2014 or felt. The theater was the first commercial business in town to offer air conditioning, keeping a constant temperature of 72 degrees and 55% humidity year-round. At the time, the “refrigerating plant” cost $78,000 to install, according to the Tampa Morning Tribune. In today’s economy, that would be roughly $1.48 million.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t just a novelty. It was a miracle,” said Rodney Kite-Powell, director of the Touchton Map Library and Florida Center for Cartographic Education at the Tampa Bay History Center. “People would just go in for the air conditioning.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But by midcentury, theTampa Theatre was in trouble, like many other downtown spots as folks drifted to the suburbs. In fact, the theater \u2014 with its “layers of stale dust, rancid popcorn butter and spilled cokes,” the Tampa Times wrote in 1976 \u2014 was almost torn down.<\/p>\n

After locals campaigned to save the building in the early 1970s, Tampa Mayor Bill Poe and the City Council agreed to take over the building from Smyrna-Halifax Theater Corp. and pay the $28,000 annual lease.<\/p>\n

City workers blew out decades of dust, dismantled and reupholstered chairs, and built a tower of scaffolding to repaint and repair cracks in the ceiling.<\/p>\n

The theater also got a modern concession stand, something it didn’t have at all until the 1930s.<\/p>\n

“If they were snacking, they were bringing it from outside,” Witecki said, noting that “purse hamburgers” were one sneaky choice. “There were street vendors all up and down Franklin.”<\/p>\n

\"Months<\/p>\n

Months after its 50th birthday, the Tampa Theatre hosted a grand re-opening celebration in January 1977. Guests were excited to see restoration work by the city, which took over the theater in 1976.<\/p>\n

To welcome patrons back,the city and the Arts Council of Tampa-Hillsborough County hosted a Renaissance-themed bash. The party recreated the opening night, with the same silent film on the big screen. Eddie Weaver, the first organist to perform on the Wurlitzer, returned to play along.<\/p>\n

Decades later, history will repeat itself.<\/p>\n

Inside the restoration\"About<\/p>\n

About seven floors of scaffolding were added during the Tampa Theatre’s massive restoration project, seen here May 21.<\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/p>\n

Construction workers get the Duncan Auditorium ready before it reopens to the public, and before its 100th birthday celebration, at the Tampa Theatre on Sept. 30.<\/p>\n

Next week’s grand reopening will offer programming that mimics the first night at the movie palace.<\/p>\n

The Tampa Theatre embarked on a lobby restoration in 2017. EverGreene Architectural Arts, a firm that specializes in restoring historic spaces, also swapped out the curtains, carpets and cramped red seats.<\/p>\n

EverGreene returned inMarch to transform the Duncan Auditorium. In the meantime, audiences watched films in the 43-seat John T. Taylor Screening Room<\/a>, added in 2024.<\/p>\n

The current round of restoration work is included in Phase 1 of the theater’s Second Century Campaign, a $30 million project that includes historic preservation updates and the addition of education spaces.<\/p>\n

Patrons will see a space “as close to the opening day of the theater as possible,” Witecki said. A machine will cast clouds on the auditorium’s night sky for the first time in decades.<\/p>\n

As touring acts return later this year, from comedian Chelsea Handler to journalist Ira Glass, modern production upgrades, such as trusses for additional lights and screens, will make behind-the-scenes life a lot easier.<\/p>\n

\"Retired<\/p>\n

Retired Tampa Theatre President and CEO John Bell points to the old paint job inside of the theater on May 21.<\/p>\n

\"Even<\/p>\n

Even this stuffed peacock, a trademark feature in John Eberson’s atmospheric theaters, got cleaned up during the restoration at the Tampa Theatre.<\/p>\n

Bell, who retired this summer, was impressed by EverGreene’s forensic paint analysis. Artists gathered about 50 core samples from around the theater and scraped througheach coat to determine the original paint colors.<\/p>\n

“I just find it fascinating, this perfect blend of art and science. … We want to be painstakingly authentic to how it was,” Bell said in May. “One of the interesting discussions we had at an architect-contractor meeting recently was, ‘What percentage of the stars do we want to twinkle?'”<\/p>\n

Some of the changes are more practical.<\/p>\n

“If you’ve got a building that’s got plumbing from 1926, you’ve got problems,” Bell said.<\/p>\n

There will be upgraded cupholders, brighter safety lighting, new bathrooms and an elevator, plus an education wing featuring classrooms on the second and third floors for camps and birthday parties.<\/p>\n

“One of my favorite John Bell-isms is, ‘Passion bends reality,’ and that has been the explanation for all of this,” Witecki said. “On paper, a theater with a tiny stage and no parking doesn’t make sense.”<\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/p>\n

Construction workers do restoration and upgrade work in the Duncan Auditorium at the Tampa Theatre on Sept. 30 in Tampa.<\/p>\n

Witecki, a spokesperson for the theater for 14 years, remembers coming here for a junior high field trip; her second date with her now-husband was at a Tampa Theatre screening of “Topper.” She changed her kids’ diapers on the landing. And now, she’ll bring them to the big reopening.<\/p>\n

“It’s important that they come with me,” she said. “So that when they bring their kids and their grandkids, they can say ‘I was here on the 100th.'”<\/p>\n

Learn more about the Tampa Theatre<\/p>\n

The Tampa Theatre is located at 711 N. Franklin St. in downtown Tampa. While the Oct. 15 grand reopening party is sold out, the theater is hosting a free community open house from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. At 3 p.m., retired President and CEO John Bell will chat with new President and CEO George Levesque onstage and answer audience questions. Visit tampatheatre.org for more information.<\/p>\n

Tombolo Books, 2153 First Ave. South in St. Petersburg, will host a free book event to celebrate the launch of Andrew T. Huse’s book, “Tampa Theatre: A Century of Stories<\/a>,” at 7 p.m. Oct. 21. RSVP at tombolobooks.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Roughly two weeks before the Tampa Theatre’s 100th birthday party, the cinema was the set of an entirely…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":423308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-423307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=423307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/423307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=423307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=423307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=423307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}