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Overview

Portland architects Bennes and Herzog designed the Astor Building and the 700-seat Liberty Theatre for movie exhibitors Claude Jensen and John von Herberg in 1925.

Building History

The Portland architectural partnership of Bennes and Herzog designed Astoria, OR's movie palace, the Liberty Theatre for the exhibition chain owned by Claude Jensen (1881-1950) and John G. von Herberg (1877-1947). Bennes and Herzog also designed the Hollywood Theatre (1926) in Portland, OR, for the same chain. During its height, the Jensen and von Herberg group of theatres consisted of over 30 venues locsted in OR, WA, and MT.

A large fire on 12/08/1922 destroyed at least 24 city blocks and 220 businesses, perhaps more. This fire occurred in December, which was relatively unusual for Western fires which often occurred in the spring through the fall, mostly in the latter two seasons following long dry periods. The first happened during precipitation in a town composed of wooden structures. To make matters worse, part of Astoria was built over tidal marshlands on wooden frameworks. This allowed the fire to completely engulf structures on all sides. Astoria, established by New Yorker John Jacob Astor (1763-1848) as a fur trading post in 1811, developed a large lumber and fishing economy that also suffered a severe setback in 07/1883 when another fire destroyed the wooden buildings and their wooden platforms built over tidal marshlands.

The Astor Building and Liberty Theatre became one of the first major commercial buildings rebuilt in the city after this late 1922 fire, and became a critical community focal point. The building contained retail storefronts, offices as well as a vaudeville stage and silent picture screen. As University of Oregon Department of Architecture researchers John Goodenberger and Robert Steinmann noted in the 1983 National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Astor Building and Liberty Theatre: "When the Astor building was built in 1925, it became a cultural center for the town. Not only did it house a combination vaudeville stage and movie theater, but a radio station, dance studio and at least two dozen businesses. The atmospheric qualities of the Liberty Theater created a unique experience for the townspeople of Astoria. After working long days in the canneries, lumber mills, logging camps, or fishing boats, the predominantly Scandanavian cormiunity could gather in an Italian Renaissance theater. There they might view a Charlie Chaplin film while surrounded by the canals of Venice." (See John Goodenberger and Robert Steinmann, National Park Service.gov, "National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for the Astor Building and Liberty Theatre," p. 5, published 12/12/1983, accessed 04/22/2024.)

Just a year after the Liberty Theatre's completion, Jensen and von Herberg sold most of their theatre holdings for $6 million to the North American Theater Corporation, which after the acquisition, became the largest film exhibition chain, independent of the movie studios, west of the Rocky Mountains.

Building Notes

The Astor Building and Liberty Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

The Theatre's front facade contained a notable Italian Renaissance composition done in terra cotta. The facade had styling influenced by pittura grottesca, ornamental patterns derived and developed from Roman pleasure grotto frescoes during and after the Italian Renaissance.

PCAD id: 25136