History

When the Paramount Pictures chain commissioned a new flagship theater for Denver in the late 1920s, Temple H. Buell was the natural choice: he had already established himself as the city’s most active commercial architect, with credits across retail, office, and institutional commissions. Buell designed the Paramount as a “modernized Art Deco interpretation of the Gothic style” — a phrase from the original building description that captures the deliberate synthesis at work. The white terra cotta skin of the facade reproduces Gothic proportional principles — the vertical emphasis, the pointed-arch motif at the entrance bays, the intricate surface enrichment — but translates all of it into geometric, linear, Deco vocabulary without a column or crocket in sight. The building opened in 1930 as one of the most elaborate theatrical venues between Chicago and Los Angeles.

For three decades the Paramount served as the premiere movie venue in Denver, hosting major studio releases in its fully equipped single-screen auditorium. As the movie palace model collapsed in the 1950s–60s under competition from suburban multiplexes and television, the Paramount faced the fate that befell hundreds of similar theaters across the country. Several alternative uses were considered; the building was saved in part by its 1980 National Register listing, which gave preservation advocates a formal tool in any future demolition or alteration proceedings. By 1988, when the City of Denver added it to the local landmarks register, the building was already in use as a live performance venue — the format that would secure its survival into the 21st century. A significant stage renovation in 2014 increased technical capacity for contemporary live music production. The Paramount today books national touring acts across rock, pop, country, electronic, and comedy programming, consistently ranked among Colorado’s top venues by capacity and booking activity.