Peery’s Egyptian Theater

Ogden, Utah

Built: 1924

Original Architect: Hodgson and McClenahan

Awards

National Trust for Historic Preservation
Preservation Honor Award

Challenge

To discover the original decorative scheme, buried under layers of paint at the Peery’s Egyptian Theater in Ogden, Utah. Then, to undo various remodeling updates and restore the theater to its 1924 Egyptian splendor.

Solution

Conrad Schmitt Studios established the theater’s original decoration through a scientific process of investigation, analysis and documentation. The restoration work included uncovering the balcony from behind a wall, removing a large 1960s movie screen and curtains, and restoring damaged plaster. CSS artists then painted the entire interior, reapplying Egyptian motifs and figures, and adding glittering highlights in gold leaf, returning the theater’s magnificent ambience.

Early in the process, CSS President, Bernard E. Gruenke speculated that the entire neighborhood would experience a rebirth, along with Peery’s Egyptian Theater and the adjacent conference center that was being added. A subsequent editorial in the Ogden Standard-Examiner stated, “Bernie Gruenke, Jr. made a prediction: That within two or three years after the restoration of the Egyptian, the (neighboring) buildings-in a state of disrepair-would experience a rebirth. Now Gruenke’s forecast is being proven correct.”

Read additional information here in a PreservationNation Article