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State of California —The Resources Agency Primary # 8.A. - Page 243 DEPARTMENT OF PARKS AND RECREATION HRI# CONTINUATION SHEET Trinomial Page 7 of 13 *Resource Name or # (Assigned by recorder) 2215 Broadway *Recorded by: Richard Brandi *Date:January 4, 2010 ❑x Continuation ❑ Update • 1 I, tit 11. _ ESSlne rs • • I ! VW !! . y T 1 E # + E ( I 1� )4 4 1116 ill /V r . ' A Figure 8. Fox Theater dated 1996, note absence of detailing along the parapet. Source: Redwood City Pubic Library. B10 The Fox Theatre opened January 5, 1929 as the Sequoia Theatre, one of a chain of theaters owned by Ellis Arkush. The 1,500 - seat theater building was designed by the Reid Brothers of San Francisco with "Atmospheric" Moorish styling in the interior and Gothic Revival styling on the exterior. Although built as a motion picture theater, the Sequoia had a stage and a pipe organ. The building was purchased by the Fox West Coast chain in October of 1929 but the Sequoia name was kept. The Fox Theatre underwent extensive remodeling in 1950 in the Skouras style as was the case for many Fox movie houses after WWII. The new design was done by Carl G. Moeller and it reopened on September 15, 1950. The theater complex consists of a theater with offices above and two, one story attached building housing retail space. The complex was conceived and built as a unit although the buildings have different Assessor Parcel Numbers (APN 052 - 365 -090 for the Fox Theater, 052 - 365 -040 for 810 Middlefield Road, and 052 - 365 -020 for 801 Hamilton Street). The Theater building and Middlefield Road buildings were completed together and the Hamilton Street building was completed a year later (1928, 1928 and 1929 respectively according to the San Mateo County Assessors records). Newspaper articles credit the design to the Reid Brothers and the property development to Hare, Brewer and Clark, Inc. The opening of the theater was subject to several articles in The Daily Redwood City Tribune where the project is referred to as the "Theater Block." A photo shows the theater and the building on Middlefield Road and an apparently vacant lot on Hamilton Street. The article says that a one story building on the corner of Hamilton and Broadway will begin construction on January 15 for a J.C. Penny store.' Copies of plans for the theater show that the Reid Brothers designed the theater building and newspaper articles credit them with the design for the attached buildings. 2 The theater was named "Sequoia Theater" but some sources call it the New Sequoia. The confusion stems from publicity at the time of opening calling the Sequoia "new" to distinguish it from an existing theater also called Sequoia. The adjective "new" is not a part of the proper name of the theater. Evidence for this conclusion comes from the opening night playbill, newspaper articles describing the theater's opening, and the fact that the blade sign said "Sequoia" not "New Sequoia." There are cases of theaters incorporating the word "new" in the name, such as the New Mission Theater, which was also designed by the Reid Brothers in 1916 and later remodeled by Timothy Pflueger in 1932. 3 Other terms for the interior as Spanish, Spanish Colonial, but the point is to evoke Spain or Morocco. 4 Cinema Treasures accessed December 17, 2009 http: / /cinematreasures.org /theater /462/ 5 The Assessor Office maintains microfilm data sheets of "Appraisal Reports" containing summaries of construction changes of varying detail. 6 Hare, Brewer and Clark were credited with developing Edgewood Park in Redwood City and Crescent Park in Palo Alto. The Daily Redwood City Tribune, January 4, 1929. 7 The Daily Redwood City Tribune, January 4, 1929. DPR 523L (1195) *Required information