The Neptune Theatre, formerly known as U-Neptune Theatre, is a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

venue in the University District neighborhood of

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

, United States. Opened in 1921, the 1,000 capacity venue hosts a variety of events, including dance and music performances, film screenings, and arts education. It was primarily used for screening classic films prior to a 2011 renovation. In 2014, the theater and building were designated a Seattle landmark. The Neptune Theatre is operated by the non-profit Seattle Theatre Group, which also operates the Paramount Theatre and

Moore Theatre Moore Theatre is an 1,800-seat performing arts venue in Seattle, Washington, United States, located two blocks away from Pike Place Market at the corner of 2nd Avenue and Virginia Street. It opened in 1907 and is Seattle's oldest active theate ...

. It is one of several venues that host the annual

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

Architecture

The Neptune Building, which houses the Neptune Theatre and several small businesses, is described as a "vaguely

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th-century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range of ...

style", three-story building with a

brick A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a unit primarily composed of clay. But is now also used informally to denote building un ...

facade. Its north facade, facing NE 45th Street, has a prominent

marquee Marquee may refer to: * Marquee (overhang), a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building * Marquee (structure), a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel, theater, casino, train station, or similar building. * Pole marquee ...

with the word "Neptune" in

neon lighting Neon lighting consists of brightly glowing, electrified glass tubes or bulbs that contain Rarefaction, rarefied neon or other gases. Neon lights are a type of cold cathode gas-discharge lamp, gas-discharge light. A neon tube is a sealed gla ...

; the final letter "e" in the marquee is stylized as a

trident A trident (), () is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. As compared to an ordinary spear, the three tines increase the chance that a fish will be struck and decrease the chance that a fish will b ...

that appears to pierce the other letters. It was designed by

Henderson Ryan Henderson Ryan (January 16, 1856 – August 29, 1927) was an American architect notable for designing buildings in Seattle Washington in the early 20th century, including several theaters and a significant number of residential apartment buildings ...

, a Kentucky-born architect who also worked on the

and

Ballard Carnegie Library The Ballard Carnegie Library is a historic Carnegie library in the Ballard, Seattle, Washington, Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington, United States. The institution was preceded by a freeholders' library in the 1860s, which was eventual ...

. The interior of the Neptune Theatre features a

nautical Seamanship is the art, competence, and knowledge of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea." It involves topic ...

theme, with a central concession stand shaped like a

boat A boat is a watercraft of a large range of types and sizes, but generally smaller than a ship, which is distinguished by its larger size or capacity, its shape, or its ability to carry boats. Small boats are typically used on inland waterways s ...

, marble finishes, and statues of

Neptune Neptune is the eighth and farthest known planet from the Sun. It is the List of Solar System objects by size, fourth-largest planet in the Solar System by diameter, the third-most-massive planet, and the densest giant planet. It is 17 t ...

History

The "U-Neptune Theatre" was opened by the Puritan Theatre Company on November 16, 1921, featuring the silent movie ''Serenade'' and seating an audience of 1,000 people. The theater was built with a Kimball orchestral

theater organ A theatre organ (also known as a theater organ, or, especially in the United Kingdom, a cinema organ) is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films from the 1900s to the 1920s. Theatre organs have horseshoe-shaped arrangements of ...

, which was removed in 1943. By the end of the 1940s, the theater was renamed the Neptune, given a small renovation and changed ownership. The theater went through several management changes during the coming decades, suffering from erratic bookings and poor equipment. It was kept afloat in the 1970s by showings of ''

The Rocky Horror Picture Show ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show'' is a 1975 independent musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and Richard O ...

'', a cult classic film. In 1981, the Neptune came under the ownership of the

Landmark Theatres Landmark Theatres is a movie theatre chain founded in 1974 in the United States. It was formerly dedicated to exhibiting and marketing independent and foreign films. Landmark consists of 34 theatres with 176 screens in 24 markets. It is known ...

chain, which also owned the

Harvard Exit Theatre The Harvard Exit Theatre was a cinema located in Seattle, Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the U ...

in Seattle. The company renovated the theater with a new sound and projection system, hoping to bring out the venue's "long-sought potential". Landmark renovated the theater again in 1994, replacing seating and adding a

Dolby Digital Dolby Digital, originally synonymous with Dolby AC-3 (see below), is the name for a family of audio compression technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories. Called Dolby Stereo Digital until 1995, it is lossy compression (except for Dolby Tr ...

and

Sony Dynamic Digital Sound is a cinema sound system developed by Sony, in which compressed digital sound information is recorded on both outer edges of the 35mm film release print. The system supports up to eight independent channels of sound: five front channels, two ...

system, along with a

16 mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical Film gauge, gauge of Photographic film, film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 mm film, 8 mm and 35mm movie film, 35 mm. It ...

projector.

''Rocky Horror''

In 1991, the theater set a record by playing ''

'' every week for 14 years, longer than any other movie had played in Seattle. By 1993, it was one of four U.S. theaters which had played the show the longest, according to the National Rocky Horror Fan Club in New York, one of several U.S. theaters playing it in a

midnight movie A midnight movie is a low-budget genre picture or distinctly nonmainstream film programmed for late-night screening or broadcast. The term is rooted in the practice that emerged in the 1950s of local television stations around the United Sta ...

format.

Recent renovation

Landmark lost its lease in 2010 to the Seattle Theatre Group, a non-profit organization that also operates the

and Paramount Theatre. The Neptune was closed for a $700,000 renovation in January 2011 and re-opened on September 25, 2011, becoming a performing arts and music venue in addition to a movie theater. The 2011 renovation saved the building from demolition for the adjoining U District

Link light rail Link light rail is a light rail system with some rapid transit characteristics that serves the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It is managed by Sound Transit in partnership with local transit pro ...

station on NE 45th Street.

Sound Transit Sound Transit (ST), officially the Central Puget Sound Regional Transit Authority, is a public transit agency serving the Seattle metropolitan area in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It manages the Link light rail system in Se ...

was forced to re-engineer the station to avoid the theater building, and to underpin the Neptune's foundation. After the theater's 2011 renovation, its first act was Pacific Northwest musician

Mark Lanegan Mark William Lanegan (November 25, 1964 – February 22, 2022) was an American singer and songwriter. First becoming prominent as the lead singer for the early grunge band Screaming Trees, he was also known as a member of Queens of the Stone Age ...

at a

soft opening A soft launch, also known as a soft opening, is a preview release of a product or service to a limited audience prior to the general public. Soft-launching a product is sometimes used to gather data or customer feedback, prior to making it wid ...

in June; the official opening in September was marked by a screening of ''Rocky Horror''. The building was nominated to become a city landmark in 2012. The

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-larg ...

passed an ordinance in 2014 designating the Neptune Building as a city landmark, levying certain protections on the property.

References

External links