The historic Tampa Theatre opened in 1926. Photo courtesy of Alyssa Cortes.
For nearly a century, the Tampa Theatre has been Tampa’s own movie palace.
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By Alyssa Cortes
TAMPA, Fla. — For nearly a century, the Tampa Theatre has been a cultural staple within the Tampa Bay community.
Designed by John Eberson and built by Paramount Pictures, it opened on Oct. 15, 1926. In the nearly 100 years since it was first built, it has had to balance the look and feel of 1926 with the comfort, technology, and content of modern day.
The Tampa Theatre shows both upcoming film releases as well as classic films, and hosts events. It’s one of the only places you can see a drag show, the latest Netflix film, and a classic like The Wizard of Oz in one place.
The theater hosts multiple series a year, from holiday classics to Black Love to summer classics. For a set period, classic films like E.T. and Miracle on 34th Street will be shown, allowing older audiences to see their favorites and younger generations to experience them for the first time, all within the same theater.
For 98 years, the theatre only had a single screen, but in 2024, a 43-seat screening room was added. The John T. Taylor Screening Room may be modern, but it has nods to the original interior, from a replica of the carpet in the auditorium, peacocks, and framed photos.
Tampa Theatre is one of the best-preserved movie palaces in the world. For its 100th year, plans are to shut down the Duncan Auditorium for a complete restoration of the room’s paint and plaster. Currently, the closer the theater is examined, the more chips and cracks appear, such as missing paint chips from the starry ceiling in the auditorium.
The Duncan Auditorium is the main focal point of the theatre.
“I found myself drifting off and staring at the ceiling at times because of how beautiful it is,” said Alicia Quinones.
Tampa Theatre is one of the only theaters in the country that can still show silent films the way they were originally intended.
“If you’ve never seen a 1926 movie, in a 1926 theater, being played on the 1926 organ, it is literally the closest thing to time travel that you’re ever gonna have,” said Jill Witecki, director of marketing and community relations.
Witecki describes a screening they had in 2023 with a scene where the camera zooms in on a woman sitting in a bathtub. You only see part of her body, her shoulder, before she looks up in shock. By today’s standards, this scene would be considered mild, yet it was scandalous at the time. The audience, made up of all age groups, gasped when the scene played.
“I was sitting there, and it brought tears to my eyes,” said Witecki. “It [the illusion] worked.”
This place, less than a 20-minute walk from the University of Tampa campus, connects audiences not just to a place but to a period in time.
“Walking into the Tampa Theatre is like stepping back in time,” said Joanne Durann, the publisher of Tampa Bay Sports & Entertainment Magazine. “It’s an immersive experience that a modern cinema just can’t replicate.”
The city of Tampa agreed, saving the theatre from demolition in 1973, and it became a Tampa City Landmark in 1988.
“You can tell a lot about a community by what it chooses to save, and this community chose to save this building,” said Witecki.