Rex Theatre

Rex Theatre
The Rex Theatre on Palafox
Building Information
Location	18 N Palafox Street Pensacola, FL 32501
Current Owner	Harvest Outreach INC
Completion Date	1922
Cost	$95,000 (1984) $25,000 (1997) $425,000 (2004)
Renovations	1937, 1981, 1984, 1997,2014
Style	Art Deco
Size	40'x150' three stories 525 seats
<googlemap lat="30.413752" lon="-87.215481" type="map" zoom="17" width="300" height="150"> 30.413641, -87.215258, Rex Theatre </googlemap>

The Rex Theatre is a historic building at 18 North Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola. Known for its distinctive Art Deco façade, it was a second-run movie theater from 1937 to 1977, but has sat largely unused in the subsequent years, despite several attempts at restoration.

History

The building was constructed in 1922 as the Rhodes Futch Collins Furniture Company. The company later changed its name to Rhodes-Collins, which can still be seen in faded lettering on the side of the building, and again to simply Rhodes Furniture.

When the furniture company moved to a new, larger building nearby (now known as the Rhodes Building), the old building was refurbished by the Saenger Amusement Company to serve as a second-run movie theater, complementing the company's nearby Isis and Saenger Theatres. The estimated cost of the renovation was $30,000, and the Rex Theatre opened on November 1, 1937.

Warren McGee was manager in 1941.

Facing competition from newer shopping mall theaters, the Rex closed in 1977. Its owners, the ABC Theatre chain, donated the building to the City of Pensacola as a tax write-off.

In 1981, attorney Gerald McGill and Frank Antonowich leased the building and restored it, hiring Theophalis May to install tiered flooring and make other improvements. It reopened as the Rex Cinema 'n Drafthouse on July 23, 1982, charging a flat $1 admission for second-run movies and offering a deli-style food menu and a selection of beer and wine. The venture was unsuccessful, but McGill bought the building for $95,000 in 1984 and, with businessman Russ Dixon, continued renovations with plans to diversify revenue by serving lunch on weekdays and offering a video real estate tour service.

The city repossessed the building in 1987. The last event to be held in the theater was the traveling "Dinosaurs Alive!" exhibit in 1989.

Architect J. P. MacNeil bought the theater in 1997 for only $25,000 — just half the appraised land value — due to the amount of interior work needed. He and his brother, contractor Mark MacNeil, put over $200,000 of work into the building, including the creation an 1,800-square-foot, contemporary-styled apartment on the second and third floors above the entrance. It was sold again in 2004 for $425,000 to Tim Hogan who had stated an intention to reopen the Rex as a "high-tech, retro-themed" venue for movies and concerts. Local firm Bounds Architecture Studio began new renovation work, and Rick Outzen reported on his blog rumors that the Rex might reopen as a live music venue by the end of 2007. This plan never came to fruition, however, and in 2012, Tim Hogan sold the Rex to Harvest Outreach, Inc for $425,000.

Harvest Church acquired the Rex in August 2012 and has made plans to restore it to a theater once again. Their website <http://www.rexpensacola.com/rex-story> states that they are going to restore the façade to its 1930’s art-deco design and renovate the interior to include a large main theater, a 2nd floor café, and a rooftop patio-style space for special events. The website says the Rex will be a venue for Harvest Church, for small-scale live theater, and for movies, concerts, and other special events.

Other images

• 

  The Rex building as the Rhodes Futch Collins Furniture Store (lower-right)

Trivia

• Retired USN LCDR Joseph Hill died in the theater on March 3, 1943.

External links & references

• Before and after photos of the MacNeil renovation
• Roadside Architecture
• Escambia County Property Appraiser parcel detail