Garden Theater

From CharlestonWiki

The Garden Theater (371 King Street) was long one of Charleston's most prominent movie houses. Albert Sottile of the Pastime Amusement Company began plans for the theater in 1913, and it opened on January 14th, 1918.

On its eleventh anniversary, the Garden announced a "talkies-only" policy, the first theatre in the City to do so.

By the late 1940's, the Garden began to evolve away from being simply a movie house into a true, general-purpose entertainment venue. Stage shows began to be held there in addition to movies. As the 1960's rolled on, movie attendance fell. The College of Charleston's arts department began using it for lectures and film screenings. The Charleston Opera Company moved in. The Garden assumed a deeper role in the cultural life of the City.

Beginning in 1977, the Garden was leased to the City; in August of that year, major restoration work was begun. On May 1, 1971, the Garden officially re-opened after a 350,000 dollar refurbishing. It hosted the opera and a number of plays during this time period. Movies returned in the late 1970's, as the Garden showed cinema classics and art-house films. Spoleto used the theater on many occasions from 1979 to 2002.

In 1980, the Fall Film Festival was hosted at the Garden.

Hurricane Hugo did a great deal of damage to the theater, requiring over 700,000 dollars in repairs. Since the City of Charleston held the lease on the building at the time, FEMA helped defray the costs of the rebuilding.

In 1993, the League of Historic American Theatres visited the Garden, along with the Dock Street Theatre, Sottile, and the Riviera.

In 2004 the Beach Company sold the Garden Theater for 1.65 million dollars.