Augusta Colonial Theater

Who We Are

Built in 1913, the Colonial Theater is a signature landmark in downtown Augusta, Maine, and is recognized in the National Register of Historic Places. The theater closed in 1969 and was saved from demolition in the mid-1990s. Today, a renewed effort is underway to restore and operate this tremendous community resource.

The Augusta Colonial Theater (ACT) is owned by Colonial Theater, Inc., a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation with the mission of restoring and operating the historic Colonial Theater in downtown Augusta as an arts and cultural center for the artistic, educational, and charitable benefit of the community.

Our vision is for a state-of-the-art cultural facility in the north end of Augusta’s historic district to include the historic Colonial Theater. It will not be “just a theater,” but a fully operational center for arts and culture including, but not limited to live performances, lectures, concerts, streamed performances, and a home for a symphony orchestra.

The curtains have closed on Act I, but with your help we will set the stage for a triumphant Act II!

INVEST in this economic driver for the state’s capital region

RESTORE a much beloved piece of history

INSPIRE generations to come

Historic Significance

Since 1913, when the Augusta Colonial Theater was built by Harry Coombs, a well-known American architect practicing in Lewiston, Maine, much storied state and national history has surrounded the theater.

In the beginning, the theater served as the center for the silent movie industry in Maine, fostered by Holman Day and Edgar Jones, both talented writers and producers living and working in Augusta. The Augusta Colonial Theater premiered many movies of that era, some of which have been restored and are being shown annually in the Augusta Silent Movie Festival.

In the early 1900s, many theaters were called “Colonial Theater” because it was seen as a way to evoke a sense of American heritage and pride, referencing the time period when the United States was still considered a colony of Britain. The name signified a connection to the country’s founding roots and culture.

The Augusta Colonial Theater was representative of a group of Colonial Theaters built between 1903 and 1924 throughout New England. Five of these theaters have undergone restoration and exist today in Laconia and Keene, NH, Bethlehem, NH, Pittsfield, MA, and Boston,MA, (Emerson College).

In 1926, after a devastating fire consumed large portions of the Augusta Colonial Theater, Bunker and Savage Architects re-envisioned a larger, newer interior with technology that would eventually accommodate the talking movies being developed. Descriptions and photos of the 1930’s show an elegant, active theater with a spectacular marquee that will be reproduced in the final stages of our restoration.

As a result of that very same fire, the scorched and sooted exterior could not be cleaned, so it was decided that the bricks would be painted in a pattern in keeping with the Art Deco style that was popular at the time.

An unique and ingenious ventilation system was created exclusively for the theater using the tidal Kennebec River to both equalize pressure from the rising and falling water levels, and to cool the auditorium. This fan and duct system lasted through the 1950s when ducts on the roof began to leak.

In 1969, when the theater showed its final films and shut its doors, it was doomed to become a warehouse with a leaky roof. By the late 1990s, it was in such a state of abandonment and neglect that it was condemned and slated for demolition. The ingenious ventilation system’s roof vents began leaking in the 1950s and decades of neglect caused water damage, rotting a giant hole in the auditorium floor all

the way through to the basement! The coal-fired boiler and coal ash that had never been removed from the basement became a serious hazard. The paint had long faded from the facade and loose bricks were hazardous to pedestrians.

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Early Leaders

The theater was saved from the wrecking ball by a group of citizens with interest in historic preservation and willing to form a non-profit corporation in order to salvage the historic Augusta Colonial Theater. In 1995 local resident, David Barnard, formed Colonial Theater, Inc. and in July 1997, the theater was conveyed to the non-profit.

Years of neglect had taken their toll and the building continued to be a safety hazard. In 2009, there began a renewed effort to not only save the building, but to restore it for the benefit of the community for generations to come.

Faced with the very difficult task of a significant restoration project “from the basement up,” a winning strategy was pulled together by interested citizens and business people working on the revitalization of historic downtown Augusta. Thus began our quest that continues today.

In 2014, the Augusta Colonial Theater was designated as a historic building by the National Register of Historic Places. This allows for federal restoration funding, and places an onus on the board to operate within the guidelines for restoring such buildings.

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restoration to date timeline with photos