The Pretzinger name belongs to a family of

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

s and engineers in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

. Albert Pretzinger (born February 28, 1863) started the family's architectural legacy. In 1892 he was with Peters, Burns & Pretzinger. He established his own firm Albert Pretzinger Architect by 1906. He was part of Pretzinger & Musselman in 1913 and Pretzinger & Pretzinger in 1928. The firm became Freeman A. Pretzinger Architect in 1941 before switching to Pretzinger and Pretzinger by 1962, and Pretzinger and Pretzinger Architects and Engineers in 1968. In 1980 the firm became Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer, changing in 1982 to Pretzinger and Klenke, Inc. Consulting Engineers. After Thomas Klenke retired in the mid-1990s, the firm's name reverted to Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer. The firm closed in 2010 with the death of Robert Pretzinger.

Colonial Theater, Dayton

Albert Pretzinger's work included the Colonial Theater (later the RKO Colonial Theatre) on Ludlow Street. It featured premium reserve balcony seating, twenty individual dressing rooms, and two chorus rooms. Showings changed from

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

to movies, and then

western movie The Western is a film genre defined by the American Film Institute as films which are "set in the American West that mbodythe spirit, the struggle, and the demise of the new frontier." Generally set in the American frontier between the Californi ...

s and burlesque shows as management sought to capture a profitable audience. The 1,800-seat theater hosted Dayton's first "

talkie A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed befo ...

s" on September 22, 1928, with showings of '' Lights of New York'' bringing in the throngs. The theater had its own chorus, the Colonialettes, and a band during its prime, and acts who took the stage included the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short-subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical, farce, and slapstick comedy. Six total ...

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

, and Ozzie & Harriet. In 1930, the Colonial became part of RKO and started showing second-run and

B movie A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Classical Hollywood cinema, Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second ...

s. By 1964 the theater was sold to St. John's Lutheran Church and was demolished to build a new church.Jon Flyn
Cinema Treasures
/ref> Records from the Pretzinger firms were donated to

Wright State University Wright State University is a public research university in Fairborn, Ohio, United States. Originally opened in 1964 as a branch campus of Miami University and Ohio State University, it became an independent institution in 1967 and was named in ...

by Robert Pretzinger in 1994.Pretzinger Architectural Collection
MS-153 Wright State University

Projects

* Rudolph Pretzinger House, 908 S. Main St, Dayton * Duncarrick Mansion, an example of American provincial architecture with Tudor detail. Designed by Peters, Burns and Pretzinger and listed on the NRHP. Birthplace and lifelong residence of Katharine Kennedy Brown (1891–1986), daughter of Grafton C. Kennedy. Brown began her political activities in 1920, shortly after women won

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, and served as Ohio's Republican national Committeewoman from 1932 through 1968. * First Lutheran Church, 138 West First Street, designed by Peters, Burns, & Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio. The

Late Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. *RKO Colonial Theatre (1912), an 1810-seat theater at 141 S. Ludlow Street Dayton, Ohio (demolished) *

Commercial Building Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

, designed by Peters, Burns and Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio (1908), added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

(NRHP) in 1982. * Dayton Fire Station No. 14 at 1422 N. Main St., designed by Peters, Burns & Pretzinger in Dayton, Ohio. Mission/Spanish Revival style building added to the

in 1980. * Springfield High School (1909–1911), a Beaux Arts style building designed by Albert Pretzinger: from one-room schools and Carnegie ... Modeled after the Library of Congress building in Washington D.C.Preservation Priorities
Springfield Preservation Alliance *

Dayton Daily News Building The Dayton Daily News Building is a historic structure located at the corner of 4th and Ludlow Streets in Dayton, Ohio. It was designed by architect Albert Pretzinger for ''Dayton Daily News'' founder James M. Cox. According to Cox's autobiogr ...

at the corner of 4th and Ludlow Streets in

, designed by Albert Pretzinger. Added to the

1978. *

University of Dayton Arena University of Dayton Arena (commonly known as UD Arena) is a 13,409-seat multi-purpose arena located in Dayton, Ohio. The arena opened in 1969. It is home to the University of Dayton Flyers basketball teams. From 2001 to 2010, the facility hoste ...

, Pretzinger and Pretzinger Architects and Engineers (1969) *

Reibold Building The Reibold Building in Dayton, Ohio was the area's tallest building from the time of its completion in 1896 until 1904 (when the first part of the Centre City Building, then known as the United Brethren Building, was completed). The Reibold ...

in Dayton, Ohio. Peters Burns and Pretzinger are credited as architects as well as Dayton native Charles Insco Williams *

Adam Schantz Adam Schantz (October 9, 1819November 5, 1879) was an American immigrant, farmer, and Democratic politician. He served six years in the Wisconsin State Senate and two years in the State Assembly, representing Washington County. Biography Schant ...

buildings, in Dayton, Ohio * Theodore Marston House / Major Renovation 1918 214 S. Main St. Middletown, Ohio * Sorg Mansion / Major Renovation 1901 in Middletown, Ohio * Sorg Opera House / Major Renovation 1906 in Middletown, Ohio

References

{{Reflist Architecture firms based in Ohio Families from Ohio