Tivoli Theatre Redevelopment

Washingon, DC

Tivoli Theater, designed by New York architect Thomas W. Lamb, was built in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, with stucco exterior, red tile roof, ornate cornices and graceful arches. It opened in 1924 as one of one of the most luxurious movie palaces in the city, located in a fashionable neighborhood of luxury apartments and retail stores. On the interior, the theater had a large lobby with plaster decorations, marble floors and stairs, and neoclassical landscape murals, with seating for 2,500.

By the late 1990s, the building was vacant and in extremely poor condition. Due to neglect and over 15 years of water damage, the exterior stucco, interior plaster and marble was severely deteriorated.

As a DC Historic Landmark, the rehabilitation of the theater was done in compliance with the Secretary of Interior’s Standards with review by the DC Historic Preservation Office. Exterior work included the repair of the original tile roof and skylights, removal, restoration and reinstallation of the sheet metal cornice, careful matching and restoration of the special finish stucco, repair of the wood and steel windows, restoration of the original storefronts and restoration of the “Tivoli” sign. The marquees and the ticket booth were replicated based upon physical evidence and historic photographs.

Interior space of the theater was reconfigured to created an intimate 250-seat theater at the original balcony level, with the remainder of the building devoted to retail and office space. The new theater space incorporates the original, restored ornate plaster ceiling and portions of the wall ornamentation. The original theater lobby was also restored and is now part of the new first floor retail space.

Proposed by the Washington, DC Redevelopment Land Agency in 1998, Tivoli Square started as the abandoned theater building anchoring a vacant and cleared three acre city block, in one of Washington’s most important, yet struggling retail districts.

The Historic Tivoli Theater building, always a mixed-use structure of retail and theater was adapted to include additional retail and offices, capped by a new 250-seat performing arts theater in the original balcony. It maintains its prominence as the center of the Columbia Heights neighborhood, and as the center of the new mixed-use development beside and behind it.

The once vacant block now includes a 55,000 grocery store with two levels of parking above fronting on Park Road to the East, and a two-story retail and office building to the North. Both buildings use scale, materials and massing to compliment the historic Tivoli, and mimic the proportions of the neighborhood. Both new structures internally integrate with the existing theater building.

The North face of the block is lined with three-story town homes, mirroring the existing housing across Monroe Street.

Awards:

Urban Land Institute,
Awards for Excellence: The Americas Competition

American Institute of Architects,
Catalyst Award

American Institute of Architects,
Merit Award

American Institute of Architects,
Honor Award

Washington Business Journal,
Best Rehab / Renovation