Saenger Theatre, Movie theater and performance venue in downtown Pensacola, United States.
The Saenger Theatre is a theater and former cinema in downtown Pensacola, built in the Spanish Baroque style with richly ornamented facades and interiors. The building has a prominent entrance on Palafox Street and a single large auditorium that seats around 1,600 people (roughly 1,450 square meters of floor space).
Architect Emile Weil designed the Spanish Baroque theater, which opened on April 2, 1925, with 2,250 seats and a program mixing silent films and vaudeville. It closed in 1975, and in 1976 ABC Southeastern Theatres donated the building to the City of Pensacola. After a restoration costing about $1.6 million, it reopened in 1981 as a performing arts center.
The Spanish Baroque interior features ornate plasterwork and a decorated ceiling that visitors notice as soon as they walk in. Today the house draws a wide mix of audiences, from theatergoers attending Broadway shows to locals coming for live music nights.
The theater stands on Palafox Street in downtown Pensacola, within walking distance of many restaurants and shops. Street parking is available nearby, but spots fill up quickly on event nights, so arriving early is a good idea.
The Saenger name comes from a family of theater owners who opened a chain of similar venues across the American South in the early 1900s. The Pensacola house is one of the few in that chain still in operation today.
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