Fort Worthology » Ridglea Village

Tour the Endangered Ridglea Theater Next Week

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:08:25 +0000

CORRECTION: The date of the tour is Thursday the 29th at 5:30 PM.

Historic Fort Worth will be going on a tour of the endangered Ridglea Theater on Thursday the 29th at 5:30 PM. The tour is free for Historic Fort Worth members, and guests are $10. From Historic Fort Worth:

Don’t miss this chance to see the interior of this iconic theater, one of the last single screen theaters in Fort Worth. Architect John Roberts will lead the tour and the current tenants, Wesley Hathaway and Richard Van Zandt, will answer questions. Beer and wine will be for sale at the concession stand.

This would be a great chance to see the Ridglea’s beautiful original features, including intricate terrazzo floors and elaborate murals – all of which would be lost if the current plans to tear down all but the entrance for a Bank of America drive-through branch are carried out. Again, the tour is at 5:30 – you can RSVP to Corry Smith at 817-336-2344 x100 or Corry_Smith@historicfortworth.org.

Fort Worth’s Remaining Single-Screen Theaters

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 14:32:35 +0000

The Ridglea
Year Built: 1950
Status: In use, endangered by demolition
Location: 6025 Camp Bowie – Ridglea Urban Village

The Ridglea is one of the only remaining single-screen theaters still in use in Fort Worth for entertainment purposes. It hosts live music. Currently, the Ridglea is threatened with near-total demolition for a Bank of America drive-through bank branch. Posts on the Ridglea’s current saga: here, here, here, and here.

The Bowie
Year Built: 1940
Status: In use
Location: 3859 Camp Bowie

The Bowie is currently housing a Frost Bank branch. The building was kept mostly intact in its conversion to a bank.

The Berry
Year Built: Unknown, presumed 1920s-1930s
Status: Vacant
Location: 3021 Hemphill – Hemphill/Berry Urban Village

The Berry, at Hemphill & Berry, has been vacant for some time and looks rather run-down. The neon sign is still in place, but the marquee appears to have been lost when Hemphill was last widened.

The Grand
Year Built: Unknown, presumed 1910s-1930s
Status: Appears vacant
Location: 1100 Fabons – near Evans & Rosedale Urban Village

The Grand was most recently in use as a church. It appears to be vacant now. The sign and marquee are still intact. The last church to occupy the building added large concrete blocks to its street facade for some reason.

The New Isis
Year Built: 1935
Status: Vacant
Location: 2401 N. Main – Stockyards

The New Isis is a 1930s renovation of the Isis Theater from the 19teens. The sign and marquee are intact. Signage on the marquee has promised “The New New Isis” is “coming soon” for years, but the building doesn’t appear to be in active restoration.

The Azle
Year Built: 1941
Status: Vacant
Location: 2206 Azle

The Azle has been vacant for some time. The sign and a marquee are intact. It appears to have had its formerly colorful appearance painted white some time ago.

The Rose Marine
Year Built: 1918
Status: In use
Location: 1440 N. Main – Historic Marine (formerly Mercado) Urban Village

The Rose Marine is certainly the most well-cared-for of the old theaters in Fort Worth. It is currently a performing arts venue.

The Poly
Year Built: 1941?
Status: Vacant
Location: 3001 Vaughn

The Poly’s signage and marquee are partially intact. The building was a church at some point in the past after it stopped being a theater, but appears to have been vacant for some time now.

The Hollywood
Year Built: 1929-1930
Status: Building in use, theater vacant
Location: 410 W. 7th – Downtown Fort Worth

The Hollywood sits entombed in the Electric Building in Downtown Fort Worth, the last of the old 7th Street “Show Row” theaters even partially intact. The theater lobby on 7th Street is mostly intact and serves as office space. The theater itself is vacant and sealed up in the building, but the lobby areas past the main lobby and the theater from the balcony level up are all reasonably intact. The lower level of the theater was converted to parking for the Electric Building apartments. See our old walkthrough of the Hollywood’s remains.

Unknown
Year Built: Unknown
Status: Vacant
Location: Evans & Terrell – Evans & Rosedale Urban Village

This structure isn’t obviously identified as a theater, but it strongly resembles one (its form is very similar to the Grand a few blocks away). Not sure of this one’s name or history. The building is currently vacant.

Photo not yet available

Unknown
Year Built: Unknown
Status: In use as church
Location: Sylvania near Race – near Six Points Urban Village

This building is potentially an old single-screen theater. It resembles one in form, but we have no information about its history. It is currently a church.

These are all the remaining single-screen theaters that we’re aware of. Of them, only two are in active use as entertainment venues, and one of those is threatened with demolition. One is in use as a bank and one as a church. The rest are vacant.

Ridglea Theater Owners Must Sell By November 3

Kevin Buchanan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:29:59 +0000

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According to Sandra Baker in the Star-Telegram, the owners of the Ridglea Theater must sell the property by November 3rd or face foreclosure.

The trustee of the R.K. Maulsby Family Trust, owner of the historic Ridglea Theater on the city’s west side, has until Nov. 4 to sell the property in a pending deal or face foreclosure, a Fort Worth bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday.

Trustee Doug King told Bankruptcy Judge Russell Nelms that he accepted a contract on Saturday from a buyer who is putting down $50,000 in earnest money and agreed to pay $1,075,000 for the Camp Bowie Boulevard property.

Selling the property would give the trust enough money to pay its creditors, King said. After the hearing, King declined to disclose the name of the possible buyer.

The saga continues. Will the Ridglea be sold, or will it head into a foreclosure auction? We’ll find out no later than early November, it seems.

Ridglea Theater Owners File For Bankruptcy

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 13:46:50 +0000

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Yep. Sandra Baker in the Star-Telegram reports:

The owner of Fort Worth’s historic Ridglea Theater has filed for bankruptcy, staving off foreclosure planned today.

The R.K. Maulsby Family Trust filed for Chapter 11 protection Thursday, stating that its debts are $1 million to $10 million. The Fort Worth school district, the only creditor to file a response so far, says it’s owed $31,416, according to documents filed in court.

More to come, we’re sure.

Owners May Lose Ridglea Theater. Again.

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 13:45:17 +0000

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No, we’re not in rerun season – it looks as though, according to Sandra Baker’s article in the Star-Telegram, the Ridglea Theater is again facing foreclosure.

Fort Worth’s R.K. Maulsby Trust could lose ownership of the historic Ridglea Theater on Camp Bowie Boulevard to a Dallas lender, which a year ago loaned money to stave off a foreclosure from a California bank.

It’s the fourth time in two years the Maulsby Trust has faced foreclosure on the west-side landmark. The filing also includes the adjoining office and retail spaces at 3309 Winthrop Ave.

Will the Maulsby Trust be able to stave off the money men once again, or is this the end for the current iteration of the Ridglea? Time will tell – and not a lot of time, because the Ridglea will be hitting the auction block on August 4th if the money’s not paid.

For the curious, the Ridglea was built in 1950, in the Mediterranean style. One of the few still-standing single-screen movie theaters in the city, it’s been used for a variety of purposes over the years since the original theater closed, including dinner theater. Its most recent life has been special events and concerts, mainly specializing in Fort Worth’s metal scene.

Two Projects Run Into Trouble

Kevin Buchanan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:46:35 +0000

A couple of comments left over the last few days shed some light on projects that had slipped off the radar. First, thurman52 reports that the garage and associated development at The Village at Camp Bowie seems to have been shelved, at least for the time being:

It looks like the developers have canned the garage plans. The building in the back that was going to be demolished as part (La Playa)is under going a facelift. I guess the garage can move further West and scale it down but he Lay Playa people said the deal was dead.

Over in the Cultural District, JP writes of the planned Presidio townhomes by CityHomes across the street from Montgomery Plaza:

I talked with a Centex rep yesterday. He said that they are pulling out of this proposed project on Carroll because there’s too much competition with Montgomery Plaza and So7 (and even those places aren’t selling as quickly as planned).