The Egyptian Theatre
Restored 1927 Egyptian Revival picture palace in downtown Boise, now used for film, opera and concerts.
The Egyptian Theatre opened on 19 April 1927 with a screening of Don Juan, built for the Boise businessman Leo J. Falk and designed by Frederick C. Hummel of the Idaho firm Hummel and Hummel. It belongs to the brief wave of Egyptian Revival cinemas that followed the opening of Tutankhamun's tomb in 1922, and was the largest and most elaborate picture palace in the state. Over the decades it traded as the Fox and then the Ada before reverting to its original name in the late 1970s.
Urban renewal in the 1960s and 1970s came close to demolishing the building; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977 and bought and repaired by the developer Earl Hardy. A thorough restoration commissioned by the Hardy Foundation followed in 1999, with Gregory A. Kaslo as project architect. The auditorium's gilded proscenium carries a winged scarab holding a sun disc, flanked by reed bundles and stylised water. It is the last surviving single-screen cinema in downtown Boise and now hosts films, opera, comedy and touring concerts.
Highlights
- Gilded proscenium with a winged scarab and sun disc
- One of the few surviving 1920s Egyptian Revival cinemas
- On the National Register of Historic Places since 1977
- Last single-screen cinema in downtown Boise
