Palmetto Theater
National Register Listing
Street Address:
172 E. Main St., Spartanburg, SC (Spartanburg County)
NRHP Nomination
Record Number:
S10817742040
Description and Narrative:
The Palmetto Theater, built in 1940, is significant for its technological advances and as an excellent example of the theater designs of Erle G. Stillwell (1885-1978), a Hendersonville, North Carolina, architect who specialized in movie theaters. Stillwell, one of the principals in the firm Six Associates, Inc., of Asheville, also designed ten other theaters in South Carolina in the 1930s and 1940s. The Palmetto Theater included the latest in design for its patrons, including state-of-the-art projection and sound equipment, air conditioning, and a staggered placement of seats so that no patron’s view of the screen would be blocked by the patron sitting in front of them, and hard-of-hearing-aids and other aids for the disabled. The theater is a one-story, rectangular plan brick building with a built-up roof on bow-string trusses and a stepped stucco façade. Exterior features include a large marquee, theater entrance recess and a separate shop storefront decorated in Carrera-glass panels in varying shades of blue. Interior features include double balconies, Terrazzo flooring, large Art Deco light fixtures, decorative wall painting, and an Art Deco plaster screen surround. Listed in the National Register April 12, 1996. It has since been demolished.
Period of Significance:
1941
Level of Significance:
Local
Area of Significance:
Architecture
National Register Determination:
listed
Date of Certification:
April 12 1996
