Historic Tower Theatre Renovation
Salt Lake City, Utah

Anchoring the vibrant 9th and 9th neighborhood hub in Salt Lake is the historic Tower Theatre. The 100 year old Vaudeville Theatre was first built with a stage to support music for silent films, then quickly converted to the talking variety. It has transformed with the evolution of film technology and in each instance maintaining the evidence to the old while embracing and adapting to the new. It’s a living record of the history of the medium.

As a one theatre cinema, the idea is to once again adapt the new reality of multiplex theatres to this location in the heart of this neighborhood commercial district all while preserving the streetscape scale. Salt Lake has a history of below grade speak- easies, art house cinemas and night clubs. The design strategy is to extrapolate these place defining memories by adding three below grade micro-cinemas, while disassembling the historic theatre, then reassembling it in situ with upgraded to 21st century digital technology, coupled with historic analogue projections. Further, there is a sky cinema, film history exhibition space  and video library to be added above the historic theatre. The project aspires to be a model for art houses around the country.

Design Principals: Prescott Muir & Thomas Morahan
Project Architects: Thomas Morahan