Dock Street Theatre - Charleston, SC
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Lat34North
N 32° 46.684 W 079° 55.765
17S E 600261 N 3627191
Dock Street Theatre opened On February 12, 1736 in the first building in America designed for use as a theater. Located at 135 Church Street, Charleston, SC.
Waymark Code: WMB6R6
Location: South Carolina, United States
Date Posted: 04/12/2011
Views: 8
Dock Street Theatre opened On February 12, 1736 in the first building in America designed for use as a theater. Located at 135 Church Street, Charleston, SC.
Dock Street Theatre opened On February 12, 1736 in the first building in America designed for use as a theater. Located at 135 Church Street, Charleston, SC. The first play performed was
The Recruiting Officer. The Theatre was located on the corner of Church Street and Dock Street. Dock Street is now known as Queen Street. The original theatre was probably destroyed by the great fire of 1740. The Planter's Hotel was built on the site of the theatre in 1809 and the decorative rails and wrought iron balcony and sandstone columns were added in 1835.
The Planter's Hotel fell into disrepair after the Civil War and was saved from destruction in 1935, after Milton Pearlstine made the property available and it became a project for the WPA. The present theatre was constructed within the shell of the Planter's Hotel. Today the theatre is undergoing a $20 million renovation that includes major improvements in resistance to dangerous seismic activity and hurricane wind events, the addition of elevators to make the facility fully wheelchair accessible.
Sources - more information:
Charleston Stage at the Dock
Wikipedia -
Dock Street Theatre
National Register of Historic Places gives the following information:
Architect, builder, or engineer: Unknown
Architectural Style: Federal, Other