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Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, waltercolor

Description:
Lee's rendering of this small-town theatre on a corner site in Visalia shows a simple Streamline Moderne two-story building with glass block, tile, curved glass windows and butt-jointed glass box office windows. The flat marquee shows recessed downlights, almost the only feature retained in the final design.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Hoffman-Luckhaus
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, waltercolor

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, night

Description:
This night view is a simplified design for a one-story building, retaining the downlighting in the lobby area, but eliminating the curved Streamline effects of the daytime view. Here the sign at the corner becomes the principal element of the design. Lee uses a series of recessed frames highlighted by indirect lighting, around the entire entrance, the poster cases, the false windows on the façade, and above the box office as a unifying motif.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, photograph of rendering, night

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, exterior

Description:
The finished theatre conforms closely to the design of the night-time rendering. The box office and sign focus attention on the corner. The use of artificial brick cladding was fashionable for both commercial and residential building of the period. (See also the Garmar Theatre in Montebello 30301-30305 for similar treatment of the exterior.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, exterior

Visalia Theatre, Visalia, auditorium

Description:
The auditorium interior reveals Lee's use of the inexpensive Quonset hut truss system, also used in the Puente Theatre (51101-51110) and the Garmar Theatre ((30301-30305) from the same period. In the immediate post-war period the system was used to build housing, commercial and factory buildings to satisfy the pent-up demand for new construction.
Date:
1946-49
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Visalia Theatre, Visalia, auditorium

Reforma Theatre, Mexico City, rendering

Description:
This theatre and office complex, perhaps taking its name from the Avenida de la Reforma in Mexico City, may be one of Lee's concepts for the Chapultepec Theatre (see 12401-12408) in Mexico City, which was located on the Avenida de la Reforma. The collection contains no photographs of the exterior of the Chapultepec.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Photographer:
Luckhaus Studio
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Reforma Theatre, Mexico City, rendering

Puente Theatre, Puente, rendering

Description:
Lee's sketch offers a prototype for a theatre that could be built cheaply and quickly. The simplest means of quickly constructing a theatre-sized space was to build a Quonset hut, a method devised in the late 1930s using small wood members to create an arched truss frame, which was then often clad in metal for warehouse purposes. A number of motion picture theatres were built in this way. They offered inexpensive rapid construction of theatre spaces in small towns such as Puente, an agricultural community east of Los Angeles.
Date:
1947-48
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Puente Theatre, Puente, rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Rio," photograph of rendering

Description:
This design makes good use of a small urban lot by maximizing the advertising space. The design above the marquee is one unit, the design below another. The projecting marquee attracts the attention of both Driver and pedestrian. The exterior could be of concrete, plaster, terra cotta, glass or plastic, the lettering in copper or white metal.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Rio," photograph of rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Park," photograph of rendering

Description:
This theatre is designed with a glass front. The box office has an automobile entrance to the parking lot with an automobile exit on the other side of the building. At night varicolored lights play on the façade and the building forms its own reflective background. This design marks a transition to the drive-theatre type.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Park," photograph of rendering

Newsreel Theatre "Correa," photograph of rendering

Description:
Lee produced a number of designs for newsreel theatres, a type of theatre that would show newsreels on a continuous basis. All the renderings describe in this archive as Theatre Design Concepts are newsreel theatres. The newsreel had been introduced as a short shown before the feature during the 1930s. World War II heightened interest in the newsreel, giving rise to the idea of small theatres showing newsreels only. As technology allowed, Lee began to increase his use of glass and later plastic, both transparent materials that could be used to great effect for buildings whose primary use was at night. Lee's renderings for these designs all show the buildings at night. By using transparent materials, Lee was creating illuminated sculptures that were their own advertisements for the film.Note on reverse: This modern idea has been designed to be inviting, entertaining and smart, to stand out in a busy location. The name on the theatre indicates the design was prepared for Mexico, probably in early 1940s.
Date:
[between 1919-1962]
Resource Type:
still image
Collection:
S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962
Newsreel Theatre "Correa," photograph of rendering