| Polk Theatre | |||||||||||||||||||
| Address: | 121 S Florida Ave, | ||||||||||||||||||
| City: | Lakeland, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 28.0432°N -81.9572°W | ||||||||||||||||||
| Architect: | J.E. Casale | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owner: | Private | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity: | 1,400 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Type: | Atmospheric | ||||||||||||||||||
| Opened: | 1928 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Website: | http://www.polktheatre.org | ||||||||||||||||||
| Currentuse: | Performance Theatre
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The Polk Theatre in Lakeland, Florida is a historic theater located at 121 South Florida Avenue.
The 1,400-seat theatre was built in 1928 after the local business "boom" of the town had ended and despite the fact that the population was only 15,000 inhabitants. In 1982, a group of concerned people banded together to save the theatre from being razed due to low attendance. Local citizens formed a non-profit group, borrowed money, secured a grant from the state, and purchased the theatre for $300,000.[1] The theatre has a mezzanine, a high balcony, a permanent backdrop of a "Venetian piazza," an orchestra pit, a ceiling against which images of twinkling stars are projected, and terrazzo flooring. The air-conditioning system, which was the first in the county, was a pump that used artesian well water to chill the building.[2]
Under the name Polk Theatre and Office Building, the building was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1993.