"Elsinore Theater"

  

The Elsinore was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.  It is an example of an "atmospheric" movie palace, in which the theater building was intended to be part of the entertainment. Built to resemble a Gothic castle, the Elsinore was named for the palace in Shakespeare's Hamlet. The Elsinore's exterior was designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology -educated architect who was founding dean of the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts.  One of Lawrence's associates, Fred Allyn, designed the interior.  The theater's three sets of entrance doors were restored to the original Flemish oak in 1984.  The facade has seventeen windows, some of which contain art glass panes painted by Albert Gerlach of Povey Brothers Studio of Portland.  The upper balcony windows are made of stained glass pieces from a cathedral in Germany that was bombed in World War  I.

"Elsinore Theater."  Historic Salem: An Inventory of Historic Places: City of Salem: