Fox Theatre Opens
It’s one of Georgia’s great architectural treasures, and it opened on Christmas day in 1929.
The Fabulous Fox Theatre on the corner of Peachtree and Ponce de Leon was originally built as the meeting hall for the Shriners, which explains its Moorish design. The initial cost was $2.2 million but it took the money of movie mogul William Fox to complete construction. He signed a 21-year lease to use the auditorium for a theater. It shut down during the Great Depression and re-opened in the late 1930s.
For 20 years, the Fox was one of the most elegant movie houses in America, with nearly 5,000 seats, the mighty mo pipe organ and the interior designed to resemble a desert tent, complete with a false sky and its famous twinkling stars.
By the 1970s, the days of the big movie houses had ended, and again the Fox fell on hard times. Just as demolition seemed eminent, a “Save the Fox” campaign rescued the building and transformed it into one of Atlanta’s premier performing arts venues.
The Fabulous Fox first opened on December 25, 1929, Today in Georgia History.
