"Beautiful Art Structure"
HISTORY
"In 1926 M.E. Gillioz, built the Gillioz Theatre at a total building cost of $300,000 dollars. M. E. Gillioz was a road and bridge builder from Monett, Missouri, known throughout the state as a flamboyant character and businessman. He traveled from one construction project to the next in his chauffeured Dusenberg, stopping to swap stories with the workers, and often offering a drink from the fully equipped bar in the trunk of his car.
M.E. Gillioz wanted to build his theatre in Springfield, Missouri to front St. Louis Street, a part of the soon to be designated Route 66, but there was no building site available. Instead he purchased a site on Olive Street, one block away, built his theatre to fill the entire city block and signed a 100-year lease on a 25-foot wide store front on St. Louis that backed up to his new auditorium. This narrow storefront became the lobby to the theatre and remained under separate ownership until the entire package was donated to the Landmarks Preservation Trust.
The Gillioz was operating only as a movie house at the time it was closed in 1979. It stood empty only a few years before the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust acquired it and began the effort to salvage and restore it to its former glory.
Today major renovations are nearly complete at the Gillioz Theatre as a neighboring building with its 27,000 square feet of space is being incorporated into the original footprint.
This addition, called the Jim D. Morris Center for the Arts, will accommodate the theatres offices, modern rest room facilities, a restaurant, a bar, and a grand ballroom. These renovations will allow the Gillioz Theatre to once again become the community asset that it once was, bringing theatre, music, movies, entertainment and the arts back to Springfield's downtown."
http://www.gillioz.org)
HISTORY
"In 1926 M.E. Gillioz, built the Gillioz Theatre at a total building cost of $300,000 dollars. M. E. Gillioz was a road and bridge builder from Monett, Missouri, known throughout the state as a flamboyant character and businessman. He traveled from one construction project to the next in his chauffeured Dusenberg, stopping to swap stories with the workers, and often offering a drink from the fully equipped bar in the trunk of his car.
M.E. Gillioz wanted to build his theatre in Springfield, Missouri to front St. Louis Street, a part of the soon to be designated Route 66, but there was no building site available. Instead he purchased a site on Olive Street, one block away, built his theatre to fill the entire city block and signed a 100-year lease on a 25-foot wide store front on St. Louis that backed up to his new auditorium. This narrow storefront became the lobby to the theatre and remained under separate ownership until the entire package was donated to the Landmarks Preservation Trust.
The Gillioz was operating only as a movie house at the time it was closed in 1979. It stood empty only a few years before the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust acquired it and began the effort to salvage and restore it to its former glory.
Today major renovations are nearly complete at the Gillioz Theatre as a neighboring building with its 27,000 square feet of space is being incorporated into the original footprint.
This addition, called the Jim D. Morris Center for the Arts, will accommodate the theatres offices, modern rest room facilities, a restaurant, a bar, and a grand ballroom. These renovations will allow the Gillioz Theatre to once again become the community asset that it once was, bringing theatre, music, movies, entertainment and the arts back to Springfield's downtown."
http://www.gillioz.org)
"Beautiful Art Structure"
HISTORY
"In 1926 M.E. Gillioz, built the Gillioz Theatre at a total building cost of $300,000 dollars. M. E. Gillioz was a road and bridge builder from Monett, Missouri, known throughout the state as a flamboyant character and businessman. He traveled from one construction project to the next in his chauffeured Dusenberg, stopping to swap stories with the workers, and often offering a drink from the fully equipped bar in the trunk of his car.
M.E. Gillioz wanted to build his theatre in Springfield, Missouri to front St. Louis Street, a part of the soon to be designated Route 66, but there was no building site available. Instead he purchased a site on Olive Street, one block away, built his theatre to fill the entire city block and signed a 100-year lease on a 25-foot wide store front on St. Louis that backed up to his new auditorium. This narrow storefront became the lobby to the theatre and remained under separate ownership until the entire package was donated to the Landmarks Preservation Trust.
The Gillioz was operating only as a movie house at the time it was closed in 1979. It stood empty only a few years before the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust acquired it and began the effort to salvage and restore it to its former glory.
Today major renovations are nearly complete at the Gillioz Theatre as a neighboring building with its 27,000 square feet of space is being incorporated into the original footprint.
This addition, called the Jim D. Morris Center for the Arts, will accommodate the theatres offices, modern rest room facilities, a restaurant, a bar, and a grand ballroom. These renovations will allow the Gillioz Theatre to once again become the community asset that it once was, bringing theatre, music, movies, entertainment and the arts back to Springfield's downtown."
http://www.gillioz.org)
HISTORY
"In 1926 M.E. Gillioz, built the Gillioz Theatre at a total building cost of $300,000 dollars. M. E. Gillioz was a road and bridge builder from Monett, Missouri, known throughout the state as a flamboyant character and businessman. He traveled from one construction project to the next in his chauffeured Dusenberg, stopping to swap stories with the workers, and often offering a drink from the fully equipped bar in the trunk of his car.
M.E. Gillioz wanted to build his theatre in Springfield, Missouri to front St. Louis Street, a part of the soon to be designated Route 66, but there was no building site available. Instead he purchased a site on Olive Street, one block away, built his theatre to fill the entire city block and signed a 100-year lease on a 25-foot wide store front on St. Louis that backed up to his new auditorium. This narrow storefront became the lobby to the theatre and remained under separate ownership until the entire package was donated to the Landmarks Preservation Trust.
The Gillioz was operating only as a movie house at the time it was closed in 1979. It stood empty only a few years before the Springfield Landmarks Preservation Trust acquired it and began the effort to salvage and restore it to its former glory.
Today major renovations are nearly complete at the Gillioz Theatre as a neighboring building with its 27,000 square feet of space is being incorporated into the original footprint.
This addition, called the Jim D. Morris Center for the Arts, will accommodate the theatres offices, modern rest room facilities, a restaurant, a bar, and a grand ballroom. These renovations will allow the Gillioz Theatre to once again become the community asset that it once was, bringing theatre, music, movies, entertainment and the arts back to Springfield's downtown."
http://www.gillioz.org)
See photo in gallery