Houston Deco: Houston's Modernistic Architecture
2922 S. Shepherd Drive
endangered
Historic name: Alabama Theater
Recently: Bookstop
Completed: 1939
Architect: W. Scott Dunne (Dallas)

City of Houston Landmark

The Alabama stopped showing movies in 1983 and the building reopened the following year as Bookstop after a restoration and adaptation designed by Judith Urrutia and Billy Lawrence of San Antonio.

The most recent tenant in the Alabama space was Bookstop, which closed in 2009 after owners Barnes & Noble moved to a new store built on the site of the River Oaks Shopping Center. Weingarten Realty Investors, the property owner, is reportedly considering demolishing the theater's Art Deco interiors to attract a new tenant to the space.

above | façade, 2006
detail (top) | façade, 1939
detail (center) | auditorium, 2007
detail (bottom) | pylon sign, 2004

Photo by Jim Parsons
 
 
 
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