Paramount Theatre
A 1928 Rapp and Rapp picture palace with a Wurlitzer organ and free monthly tours.
The theatre opened on 1 March 1928 as the Seattle Theatre, a film and vaudeville house designed by the Chicago firm Rapp and Rapp with the Seattle architect B. Marcus Priteca. It took the Paramount name in 1930. The French-influenced interiors run to a grand staircase, ornamental plasterwork and chandeliers, and the house retains its original four-manual, twenty-one-rank Wurlitzer, one of only three surviving organs of its Publix 1 style. A convertible floor allows the stalls to be levelled for standing concerts.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and made a Seattle landmark in 1995, the Paramount was bought and restored in the 1990s by the former Microsoft executive Ida Cole, whose work led to the founding of the non-profit Seattle Theatre Group. STG has run the building since, alongside the Moore and Neptune theatres. The programme spans touring Broadway, rock and pop concerts, dance, comedy, family shows, jazz and silent film with organ accompaniment.
Highlights
- Original four-manual Wurlitzer organ, one of three of its type left
- Convertible floor turns the stalls into a flat ballroom for standing shows
- Free two-hour volunteer-led tours on the first Saturday of the month
- Restored in the 1990s, founding venue of the Seattle Theatre Group
