- City:
- Seattle, WA
- Site Type:
- Auditoriums and Arenas, Civic Facilities, Parks and Recreation
- New Deal Agencies:
- Works Progress Administration (WPA), Work Relief Programs
- Completed:
- 1938
- Quality of Information:
- Good
- Marked:
- Yes
- Site Survival:
- No Longer Extant
Description
The Works Progress Administration built the Showboat Theatre in Seattle WA.
According to the UW Magazine, the theater was, “[b]uilt by the Works Progress Administration in 1938, the Showboat opened in September of that year with a production of “Charley’s Aunt.” For many years it was the center of Seattle’s nascent theatrical community.”
“For almost 10 years the University and a group of drama alumni, the Showboat Foundation, tried to save her. The cost of restoring the building—estimated at $1 million in 1984—far exceeded the cost of removing or demolishing the structure. To move it, the structure would have to be dismantled and barged to another site. Over the years the foundation considered several locations and had a temporary site in Kenmore ready.”
The theater was demolished in 1994.
Source notes
UW Magazine June 1, 1994 By Tom Griffin, "Final curtain falls on historic Showboat Theatre," https://magazine.washington.edu/final-curtain-falls-on-historic-showboat-theatre/, accessed June, 2023.
Contributor note: "I know this was a WPA project because a friend of mine worked at the University of Washington and he salvaged the plaque just before demolition. He put the plaque on the wall in his new home. He told me where he got the plaque."
Site originally submitted by Shane Amodei on June 25, 2023.
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