Reginald Wycliffe Geare (1889 – August 20, 1927) was an American architect known for his design of theaters. His career was ended by the Knickerbocker Theatre disaster (January 28, 1922), when a record snowfall collapsed the theater's flat roof, killing 98. Geare was closely associated with Harry M. Crandall and with early Washington theater design. Geare's theaters include the

Apollo Theatre The Apollo Theatre is a listed building, Grade II listed West End theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue in the City of Westminster, in central London.

in Martinsburg, West Virginia (1914), the Knickerbocker Theatre in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

(1917), the Metropolitan (1918), the York (1919), the Strand in

Cumberland, Maryland Cumberland is a city in Allegany County, Maryland, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 19,075. Located on the Potomac River, Cumberland is a regional business and comm ...

(1920), and the Lincoln Theatre in Washington, D.C. (1922). He also designed the theater portion of the Southern Aid Society-Dunbar Theater Building. Geare was also the original architect selected for Washington’s Tivoli Theatre in Washington, D.C., but following the Knickerbocker disaster he was replaced by

Thomas W. Lamb Thomas White Lamb (May 5, 1870 – February 26, 1942) was a Scottish-born, American architect. He was one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas of the 20th century. Career Born in Dundee, Scotland, United Kingdom, Thomas W. Lamb ca ...

. Lamb was also commissioned to rebuild the Knickerbocker, afterward known as the Ambassador. The

coroner's jury A coroner's jury is a body convened to assist a coroner in an inquest, that is, in determining the identity of a deceased person and the cause of death. The laws on its role and function vary by jurisdiction. United Kingdom In England and Wa ...

found that the theater victims had died because of faulty construction and design. A grand jury indicted Geare and four others for

manslaughter Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th ce ...

, though none was convicted. Geare died by suicide on August 20, 1927. Ten years after Geare's suicide, Harry Crandall, the owner of the Knickerbocker, also committed suicide. Of his theaters, only the Apollo, Lincoln, and York survive—the Apollo and Lincoln receiving historic landmark status in 1979 and 1993 respectively.

References

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Historic Landmark Nomination for the York Theater 2012
'. {{DEFAULTSORT:Geare, Reginald 20th-century American architects 1889 births 1927 deaths 1927 suicides Suicides in the United States