A nonprofit groups planned renovation of the 74-year-old Fox Theater in downtown Spokane would preserve one of the remaining examples of the work of Anthony Heinsberger, a prominent early 20th Century architect who designed the interiors of the Fox and hundreds of other theaters.


At the Fox, Heinsberger created a magnificent 350-light, 60-foot-wide sunburst in the ceiling above the stage thats the theaters signal architectural feature. He also intricately designed the plastered-wall paintings in the cavernous main auditorium; choreographed work on one-of-a-kind murals in the mezzanine and lobby; designed the uniquely etched aluminum doors leading into the auditorium; and designed and oversaw construction of 25-foot-wide, three-dimensional sunburst art pieces on both walls approaching the stage, each flanked by eagles sitting atop turtles.


While some preliminary renovation at the Fox already has been done, the lions share of the work will start soon if the Washington Legislature approves the nonprofit Fox Theater groups current request for a $4.5 million appropriation, says Betsy Godlewski, the groups development director. The restoration is expected to take 15 months to 18 months.


In two separate actions, Gov. Christine Gregoire, in her recently released budget proposal, and the state Senate set aside $2.5 million for the Foxs renovation. Sen. Lisa Brown, D-Spokane, says the House could possibly increase that $2.5 million figure, but adds shes doubtful that would happen.


Godlewski did not say whether a $2.5 million appropriation from the legislature would trigger renovation work this year. Its premature to talk about that until the legislature makes its final decision, she says.


Construction plans for the project have been drafted by Northwest Architectural Co., of Spokane, and include major infrastructure work to upgrade the buildings heating, plumbing, and other mechanical systems.


The Fox had the first air-conditioning unit of any public building in Spokane, asserts Godlewski, but new duct work and forced-air units need to be installed to replace antiquated air-conditioning and heating systems. She says all of the plumbing systems in the building also are targeted to be rebuilt.


Thus far, the nonprofit has raised $12 million to restore the 30,500-square-foot building. It says it needs about $28 million. That amount would cover renovation, planning and design, the $1.1 million purchase price of the building and the $700,000 spent to buy the rest of the block, and $6 million for an endowment. The endowment would subsidize use of the facility by nonprofit performing arts groups such as the Spokane Youth Symphony, Spokane Coeur dAlene Opera, and Spokane Childrens Chorus, Godlewski says.


The group says the restoration project would create 175 construction jobs and result in an economic impact of $20 million during construction. In addition, visitor and resident spending would total about $8 million in the first year of operation and would include the purchase of 25,000 hotel nights, 160,000 restaurant meals, and 390,000 servings of dessert and coffee. The renovated theater also would serve as a new home for the Spokane Symphony, says Godlewski.


Prolific designer


Heinsberger is credited with designing the interiors of 757 theaters in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, including the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco and the Paramount in Oakland. He also designed a mural on the ceiling of a gallery at the famed Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles.


Godlewski says that Heinsberger worked on the dcor of numerous U.S. theaters for West Coast Motion Pictures, which later became 20th Century Fox, but many of those structures have since been torn down, accentuating the importance of saving his work at the Fox Theater here.


While Heinsberger was the artistic genius behind the interior elegance of the Fox, which opened in 1931 as a 2,400-seat theater, another noted figure in U.S. design, architect Robert Reamer, designed the theaters art deco physical structure.


Reamer gained fame as the designer of the renowned Old Faithful Inn, in Yellowstone National Park, and also designed the 5th Avenue Theater, in Seattle. A recent biography about Reamer, titled Weaver of Dreams, features a picture of Spokanes Fox Theater on its cover along with photos of four other prominent buildings he designed.


Currently posted in the Foxs lobby window at 1005 W. Sprague is script from the theaters original dedication program, dated Sept. 3, 1931. It reads, To you who love the finer things of life; who respond with warm eagerness to the appeal of beauty, will come a thrill of pride and deep enjoyment when first you step across the threshold of this, the new Fox Theater.


Depression-era cinema


The Fox was built during the Depression at a cost of $1 million, when movie companies such as West Coast Motion Pictures were erecting theaters all over the U.S. to show their own movies exclusively, says Godlewski.


Spokane was fortunate that the theater here was built when it was, Godlewski says. She says the cinema was erected in the early years of movie-theater expansion, yet while vaudeville was still in vogue. Because of that, she says, Reamer designed the Fox with a large, 29-foot-by-50-foot stage (not counting the oval frontispiece), a high overhead space, called fly space, used to suspend lights and scenery, and enabled stagehands to remain out of sight while flying props, a 20-person orchestra pit, and backstage space for dressing rooms, storage, catering, and mechanical needs. Many Fox theaters built later didnt include stages, dressing rooms, and related amenities, which are attractive to those who want to renovate the structure here, Godlewski says.


In addition to playing movies, through the years the Fox routinely scheduled live performances to balance its presentations. The long list of storied performers who appeared on stage at the Fox includes famed Metropolitan Opera soprano Marian Anderson, movie star Katherine Hepburn, and crooners Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.


The theater was changed radically in the 1970s, when the balcony was remodeled into two movie screening rooms, making the Fox into a triplex.


When the Fox Theater group bought the building in 2000 from Regal Cinemas, one of the first things it did was to tear out the walls that had partitioned areas of the balcony from the main auditorium and from one another for 30 years.


Those walls killed the whole spirit of the theater, says Godlewski. When we took them out, you could almost hear the theater take a breath of relief.


Other than that work, the new owners have made minimal improvements. Their emphasis has been on fundraising, planning, and design.


Money raised to date has come from corporate and private donations as well as a number of state, federal, and private grants.


Planned improvements


Once the rest of the money has been secured, the seating in the old theater will be reduced to about 1,700, with much of that reduction coming in the main auditorium, where the back 12 rows of seats will be removed for additional lobby space, says Godlewski. The balcony stretches from the back of the auditorium about two-thirds of the way to the stage and, once restoration work is completed, will again seat about 750 people,.


Although the acoustics for most of the auditorium area are above average, the overhanging balcony muffled sound in those 12 lower rows slightly, and the planned renovation will eliminate that problem, she says.


The five womens restrooms and five mens restrooms will be remodeled and more restrooms will be added.


Heinsbergers painted auditorium walls are barely visible now, thanks to 75 years of cigarette smoke and popcorn grease, but the same company that did restoration work at the state capital has performed tests on the auditorium walls and has determined that the original artwork can be preserved, Godlewski says. Further, the nonprofit group has obtained a $250,000 grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation to pay for the cleaning of the walls.


Once the walls are clean, they will be three or four times brighter than they are now, Godlewski says.


In a way, history is repeating itself. When Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., of Spokane, renovated the old State Theater, on Sprague, into the Metropolitan Performing Arts Center, the restoration crew didnt know that beautiful murals were under the grime until it began to clean the walls. Those murals, too, were preserved.


The Fox Theater group also has secured a $39,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to clean the original, decorative, 1931-vintage fire curtain that hangs over the stage.


Included in the renovation plans will be the reupholstering and placement of new padding in the auditorium and balcony seats.


Although the exterior of the building is in good shape, plans call for repainting it; installing new, energy-efficient windows; and restoring its two original marquees to like-new condition, says Godlewski.


The Fox, which once housed the largest auditorium in Spokane, will fill a much-needed niche between the Metropolitan, which seats 700, and the Spokane Opera House, which seats 2,700, Godlewski says.


The Downtown Spokane Partnership, Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce, city of Spokane, the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, and other civic organizations support the Foxs renovation, Godlewski says.


Godlewski says the news is great that both Gov. Gregoire and the Senate want to invest $2.5 million into the Foxs renovation, but is still hoping the theaters full $4.5 million request will be appropriated.


The Spokane Symphony would become the Foxs primary tenant and would occupy the buildings performing arts space about a third of the time. The goal is to use the facility another one-third of the time for performances by subsidized, nonprofit groups, and schedule the remaining performance dates for regional and national touring ballets, small operas, theater performances, and symphony groups, says Godlewski. She says the Fox would no longer be used as a movie theater.