Fox Tucson Theatre

The Fox Tucson Theatre, the country’s only southwestern art deco movie palace, was designed by California architect Eugene Durfee. Construction began in 1929 for the Tower Theatre, the crown jewel of the Diamos Brothers Southern Arizona Movie Theatre chain. Fox West Coast Theatres leased the building from the Diamoses, renamed it the Fox Theatre, and opened it on April 11, 1930; it soon became Tucson’s community center. In 1936, it became the city’s first public building to have refrigerated air. Unoccupied from 1974 to 1998, it deteriorated. Revival efforts began in 1997, and in 1999 the Fox Tucson Theatre Foundation was formed to restore the theatre. Through extensive efforts by volunteers led by Fox Foundation executive director Herb Stratford, the faithfully restored Fox Tucson Theatre reopened on New Year’s Eve 2005. The theatre was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 2003 and elevated to the national level of significance on April 16, 2004.

Tucson, Arizona · United States