History

The Paramount opened in 1930 as part of the national Paramount Pictures theater circuit, which built flagship houses in major American cities during the late 1920s to showcase both its films and the scale of its commercial ambitions. Denver, as the dominant city of the Mountain West, was a natural location for a prestige venue. The building was designed to accommodate both silent films and the new talking pictures that had transformed the industry just years before, and its acoustic engineering was state-of-the-art for its moment.

Through the 1930s and 1940s, the Paramount was one of Denver’s premier entertainment destinations, hosting film premieres, big-band performances, and variety shows alongside the regular film program. The rise of television in the 1950s and the subsequent decline of downtown movie audiences put pressure on grand single-screen theaters across the country, and the Paramount was not immune. It passed through various ownership configurations and periods of uncertain use before finding its contemporary identity as a concert venue in the late twentieth century.

The conversion to live music preserved the interior while bringing the building back into active use. The auditorium’s sightlines and acoustic properties, designed for film audiences and orchestra pits, proved adaptable to amplified music, and the Paramount became a regular stop on the touring circuits of major popular and rock artists. Its Art Deco lobby and auditorium ornament were recognized and restored as the building’s most valuable assets, and it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.