Coliseum Theater, Former movie theater in downtown Seattle, United States

The Coliseum Theater is a former cinema at 5th Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle, designed by B. Marcus Priteca and opened on January 8, 1916. Its exterior is covered in elaborate white terra cotta ornament, and the original interior was comparably ornate. It was Seattle's first theater built specifically for showing movies.

Designed by B. Marcus Priteca, the Coliseum opened on January 8, 1916, as Seattle's first theater built specifically for showing movies. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 7, 1975, and is also an official city landmark. It remained a first-run cinema into the late 1970s and kept showing films until 1990.

Anita King gave a speech at the opening night on January 8, 1916. The silent-film orchestra and organist were all Russians, described as the highest-paid movie theater musicians in the country. The organ was built by Moller.

The building stands at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Pike Street in downtown Seattle, near the Pike Place Market entrance. It is no longer a cinema: after closing on March 11, 1990, it housed a Banana Republic store from 1994 to 2020 and since 2024 has been occupied by the women-run artist collective Actualize AiR. Look for the terra cotta facade at street level.

The 1931 praise came from the Journal of the Royal Institute of Architects, which called the Coliseum "the first of the world's movie palaces." The theater had opened in 1916 advertised as "the world's largest and finest photoplay palace." Silent-film audiences heard a seven-piece orchestra of Russian musicians plus a Moller organist, reputedly the highest-paid movie theater musicians in the country.