Carolina Theatre Exploration

There are many facets of exploration open to those who wish to learn about Charlotte's Carolina Theatre. This is the point of embarkation for those journeys of exploration. Here you can learn everything there is to learn about the Carolina Theatre. If you don't find what you're looking for, write us and we'll find it for you. Until we get it restored (or someone else tears it down), this will be the collecting place for all information about the Carolina Theatre.

The Past

• Listen to a radio program by Paul Norris, organist of WSOC, from the Carolina Theatre Wurlitzer organ, Feb 10, 1938
• Tell me about the history of the theatre
• Take a pictorial tour
• Tell me about the history of the Wurlitzer theatre organ
• Did the Charlotte Symphony really play there first?
• Advertisements through the years
• A Timeline
• What happened in ...

  1927	1928	1938	1953
  1961	1972	1978	1980
  1988	1995	1996	1999

• Did you know?
• How was CityFair connected with the Carolina?

The Present

• Don't Lose It, a video presentation stressing the importance of saving and restoring Charlotte's Carolina Theatre
  Windows Media 9     Real
• Brochures
• What does the press write?
• What would you like to write?
• What's happening now, is there a schedule, and can I use it?
• Who else is interested in the theatre?
• What is "restoration" and what's being done?
• What's happening in the rest of the block?
• What can I do to help?
• Did you know?
• Take a walking tour of downtown Charlotte
• Is the Carolina listed as a historic property?

The Future

Under Contruction Soon

• What we want to happen 
  • The Carolina Theatre should be restored as a theatre (a building used for the presentation of plays, motion pictures, or other dramatic or musical performances), not a performing arts center (a building designed to serve all the performing arts generally; does not function as well as an opera house for an opera, a concert hall for a symphony, etc.; no provision for motion pictures.).
     
  • MTOS should be consulted on all facets of the restoration which lie within our area of knowledge. These include organ, organ chambers, organ placement, acoustical properties of historic theatres such as the Carolina and of the restored theatre, seating material and construction, carpeting, and draperies.
     
  • MTOS should be allowed to install a suitable theatre organ as part of the total restoration.
     
  • MTOS should be given without charge reasonable and ample access to maintain the theatre organ in perpetuity and to convene meetings in the theatre with organists, organ technicians, and visitors.
     
  • Local groups, such as MTOS, should be able to use the theatre for a reasonable cost, such costs not ever becoming prohibitive for any group. This means that some rules, proper in many circumstances, such as there being two security guards at any time, must be waived.
     
  • MTOS should be recognized as the first local group to promote the restoration of the theatre.
     
• What might happen
   
  • The Charlotte City Council might just hold on to the property for a while longer by extending the option held by the Arts & Science Council. The Carolina Theatre Task Force has written: "Based on the positive evidence [they listed], the Carolina Theatre Task Force recommends that the City Council extend the Arts & Science Council's option on the Theatre and adjacent property for one year to allow the Arts & Science Council to develop a building and design program, cost analyses and business and fund-raising plans." "A one-year extension would give the Task Force the opportunity to move forward prudently and with due diligence to go to the next level of design planning in order to create a facility that will service a wide range of people while maximizing revenues, refine the operating budget to determine on-going costs of operating the facility, and pursue state funding." In other words, the City Council might be convinced that nobody knows what to do or how to do it and that they should continue waiting, doing nothing. In December 1999, they passed the extension for the second time.
     
  • The City Council might sell it to a corporation that would run it under the auspices of the City Council or perhaps the Arts and Science Council, or even a subsequent reformation of the Carolina Theatre Task Force. This organization has expressed their desire not to restore, but to renovate and rebuild a complex consisting of multiple movie screens, non-standing seating, an enlarged stage area with state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems, a coffee house, a banquet hall, and more. This could, of course, be done on any vacant property, but doing it under the umbrella of "restoration" would provide certain advantages such as tax relief.
     
  • The City Council might simply give the property to the Arts and Sciences Council for their disposal, even though they've said they don't want it.
     
  • MTOS and other groups might be priced out of using the theatre, as happened at Spirit Square.
     
• What is happening now
   
  • 2004: There is new speculation about what might be done to the theatre, such as turning it into modern art museum, or a big-box drug store. Someone has suggested condos. There are obvious problems with all of these, and the most obvious direction, total restoration, is somehow being obviously ignored.
  
  
  • 2005: A developer from Atlanta showed promise as a committed advocate of restoration. Others were invited with more of a business point of view.
  
  
  • 2006: After more resignations from their board, CTPS is trying again to ensure that any developer will not tear down any portion of the theatre nor alter in any substantial way any portion of the theatre in order to make money. This is proving to be difficult.
  
  
  • 2009: Due to the crash in real estate and financial markets and the overal dismal economy, the extremely expensive condos of the Encore project have not sold during 2008 and will certainly not receive any financing in 2009 unless the nation's economy changes drastically. The best hope for the Carolina remains a profit/non-profit partnership with cooperation from the city-county government.