Town Theatre, in Columbia, South Carolina, greets you with a glazed arch. Built in 1924, this rectangular brick building greets you with a two-story glazed central arch that wears its Art Deco influences plainly and proudly. Imagine the craftsmen who laid each brick in 1924 and the way the arch marks the building that houses one of the first community theatres in the United States.
The original massing remains clear; the building’s simple rectangle is punctuated by that tall glazed arch, an architectural heartbeat that tells you both age and ambition. Behind you, note that a brick annex was added to the rear of the building in the 1950s, an honest mid-century addition grafted onto the 1924 structure. That evolution — a 1924 core and a 1950s rear — helped carry the theatre forward and eventually led to recognition: Town Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
Brick laid in 1924, a tall glazed arch, and a 1950s annex at the rear: old and newer parts of Town Theatre meet in a building recognized on the National Register in 1974.