Paramount Theater

The historic Paramount Theater, a Charlottesville landmark now in its 90th year, presents a wide variety of live art performances. Check their website for a calendar of upcoming events.

On November 25, 1931, The Paramount Theater opened its doors as one of the last grand "movie palaces" during the golden age of cinema. With its exceptional sightlines and astounding acoustics, The Paramount Theater instantly became an integral part of Central Virginia's community life over the next four decades.

Designed by the Chicago architectural firm of Rapp & Rapp, and built by Percival Hunter Faulconer and Hollis Rinehart, The Paramount Theater was contextual to the community, an homage to Thomas Jefferson in his hometown. The art deco style, typical of 1930s movie theaters, was abandoned. The Paramount boasts a stately Georgian façade, elegant lobby, magnificent chandeliers, classical seat decoration, 18th-century style colonial scenes painted on silk panels, and an ornate auditorium.

The Paramount thrived through the depression era and beyond before it was forced to close on June 30, 1974, due to a decline in downtown business and the increasing popularity of television. In 1992, a group of community leaders purchased The Paramount Theater and reorganized it as a nonprofit. Following a decade of fundraising and two years of renovation and expansion, the fully restored Paramount Theater opened again in 2004, ready to host nationally acclaimed performances, classic movies, speakers, and special screenings, with a diverse menu of live events each year.