Historic Washoe Theatre - Anaconda, Montana

305 Main Street Anaconda, MT   59711 Phone: 406-563-6161

The Washoe Theater in Anaconda, Montana was the last theater constructed in the United States in the Nuevo Deco (a form of Art Deco) style. The theater was designed in 1930 by Seattle architect B. Marcus Pinteca. It was almost entirely finished by 1931, but its opening was delayed until Thursday, September 24, 1936 because of the Great Depression. In 1936 dollars, its construction cost was a grand $200,000. The Smithsonian rates the Washoe as a national treasure due to the lavish interior. In 1982, the Washoe was listed on the United States National Register of Historic Places for architectural significance.

The interior design and furnishings were done by Hollywood theater designer Nat Smythe. The exterior doors are etched glass. Each joint and trimwork is carved in complicated relief patterns with much use of ornamental ironwork. Use of copper is especially prevalent, as Anaconda was a company town for the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. Silver and gold leaf supplement the accentwork. Carved rams heads line the walls. Every flat surface, including the domed ceiling, is a painted mural done by Colville Smythe.

Pre-dating the Washoe on this site was the Margaret Theater, named for Mrs. Marcus Daly in 1897. The Margaret was sold in 1926.  It was re-modeled in 1929 at a cost of $60,000 and renamed the Sundial Theater only to burn down in 1929. Not soon after the ‘Washoe Amusement Company’ formed to lobby local citizens for the reconstruction of the theater on the site, and the Washoe soon came into being. It cost $200,000 to build.

The silk curtain is a piece of art in itself, though seldom seen. Its age presents a problem for curators who are afraid that taking it down, even to try and restore it, would cause it to fall apart. It has a painting of deer stags.

The theater was also designed to have near perfect acoustics. The delay in opening allowed the sound system to be re-designed as a showcase for Western Electric's newest innovation "Mirrorphonic Sound". Recorded sound with films was itself a relatively new innovation, the creation a high-fidelity audio system was quite remarkable for 1936.

This extravagant movie palace was built in 1936 with Art Deco furnishings, murals, and ornamentation in silver, copper and gold leaf. The Washoe, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1982, was designed by architect B. Marcus Priteca an esteemed theater architect whose credits include Pantages Theaters in California, the Seattle Coliseum, and Orpheum, Palomar and Paramount theaters in Seattle.

The first movie to play in the Washoe was a Western, "The Texas Rangers" starring Fred MacMurray as a Texas Ranger. The Washoe still operates as a movie theater today.

 -page last updated September 2006, TMC.