AKA: Fox West Coast Theatres Corporation, Fox Theatre, Downtown, Redlands, CA; Redlands Fox Theater, Downtown, Redlands, CA

Structure Type: built works - performing arts structures - theatres

Designers: Balch and Stanbery, Architect and Engineer (firm); Smith, L.A., Architect (firm); Clifford A. Balch (architect); Lewis Arthur Smith (architect); Floyd Edgar Stanbery (structural engineer)

Dates: constructed 1927-1928

2 stories, total floor area: 22,000 sq. ft.

123 Cajon Street
Downtown, Redlands, CA 92373

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Designed by Lewis A. Smith (born c. 1869), the Mission Revival West Coast Redlands Theatre had a seating capacity of 1,505 when it opened in 1928. One year later, the West Coast Theatres chain merged with the Fox Theatres group forming the Fox West Coast Theatre Corporation.

The deep stage house, no longer needed for vaudeville performances, was transformed into a small theatre in the 1940s. This small additional viewing space was known as the "Grove Theatre" and later the "Rainbow Theatre" and had its own entry and signage behind the main Fox auditorium. To generate more revenue, owners of the Fox Redlands compartmentalized the balcony into two more screening rooms in 1982. The Fox closed c. 1988; owners put the Fox up for sale in 2000, asking for $1.35 million. Shortly after it was offered, the auditorium's floor grade was straightened, and a business tenant moved in. After 2008, preservations pushed to have the building restored as a performance venue, and were able to build a new stage on the spot of the old orchestra put. It reopened on Independence Day 2009 as the Fox Event Center, which could hold 400 seated and 700 standing guests.

PCAD id: 8970