AKA: Pomona College, Greek Theater, Claremont, CA
Structure Type: built works - public buildings - schools - university buildings
Designers: Higgs, Paul F., Architects (firm); Paul F. Higgs
Dates: constructed 1916-1917
The Greek Theatre at Pomona College opened 05/18/1917; a number of colleges and universities in California took advantage of the state's mild climate to construct outdoor, Greek-style, outdoor-air theatres, most notably at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) (1903). Architect of the UCB theatre, John Galen Howard (1864-1931), was an avid Classicist, who thought of Berkeley as the new "Athens of the Pacific." The Greek Theatre concept also reflected the larger influence of Greek and Roman classical culture on American school curricula (at all levels) during the late-19th and early-20th centuries. This influence remained particularly strong in art, architecture, language, philosophy, literature and drama. The first Greek Theatre in CA opened at Katherine Tingley's International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, CA, in 1901.
PCAD id: 3753