Paramount Theatre (Atlanta)

The Paramount Theatre was a movie palace in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The building was designed by Philip T. Shutze and was completed in 1920 as the Howard Theatre, a name it kept until 1929. It was located at 169 Peachtree Street, in an area that soon became the location of several other major theaters, earning it the nickname "Broadway of the South". With a seating capacity of 2,700, it was at the time the second largest movie theater in the world, behind only the Capitol Theatre in New York City. In addition to functioning as a movie theater, the building hosted live performances, with several nationally renowned orchestras playing at the venue through the 1940s and Elvis Presley playing at the theater in 1956. By the 1950s, however, movie palaces faced increased competition from smaller movie theaters and the rise in popularity of television, and the Paramount was demolished in 1960.

History

Background and construction

The 1 acre (0.40 ha) of land in downtown Atlanta on which the theater would eventually be built traded hands several times throughout the late 1800s before it was sold to Asa Griggs Candler for $97,000 on November 30, 1909. Candler sold the land on April 17, 1911, to brothers Forrest and George W. Adair Jr. for $120,000. On March 28, 1919, the Adairs agreed to lease the land to C. B. and George Troup Howard, the latter of whom was a successful cotton merchant.