Capitol Theatre, Shanghai

The Capitol Theatre Building, is located at No. 146, Huqiu Road, Huangpu District, Shanghai, at the southern end of Zhapu Road Bridge near the banks of the Suzhou Creek. The Capitol Theatre was built in 1928, the ground floor used to be the Capitol Theatre while the upper floors were offices and apartments. In 1994, the Capitol Theatre Building was selected to be one of the list of outstanding historic buildings of Shanghai.^[1]

The Capitol Theatre Building is on Huqiu Road. The original name of the road was BoWuYuan Road. Along BoWuYuan Road there is one of the earliest museums in China, the Royal Asiatic Society Shanghai Museum. At that time, Bowuyuan Road was the center of Shanghai Culture activities. From the beginning, the British diaspora organized a drama club called friends and drama (话剧票友), it staged various European and American dramas. However, the drama club caught fire and burned down, and the British diaspora decided to rebuild a more luxurious modern theatre.^[2] In 1925, funded by a British firm, a building that has a theatre, office and apartment at the same time was designed by Hungary architect Charles Henry Gonda at the end of BoWuYuan Road. At that time, this "Paris style" building was extremely rare among Shanghai and even in China. At the same time it becomes Shanghai first theatre that is been placed inside a building.^[1] On February 25, 1928, this new building was officially named Capitol Theatre Building, and the new theatre on the ground floor was officially named Capitol Theatre. On that day, a European movie Casanova becomes the ever first movie played in Capitol Theatre.

Since the Capitol Theatre started showing films, it was mainly the films from the British and American films, at the same time, there were often some western musicals. In June, 1929 the Capitol Theatre was acquired by the America business east art firm (美商远东游艺公司), film projectors were added at the same time. The theatre signed a contract with the America Paramount Pictures Corporation, and becomes the first ever theatre for Paramount film in Shanghai.^[3]

At that time, Capitol Theater, The Grand Theatre, The Metropol Cinema, The Athena Cinema, Olympic, are the top tier theaters in Shanghai. However, movie tickets at the Capitol Theater were usually higher than the other, for example, normal Hollywood movie would cost 0.6 silver dollar (银圆), at the Capitol Theater it will cost 1 silver dollar.^[4] The Capitol Theater is located near the Former Consulate-General of the United Kingdom, Shanghai, and around it are the dorms for the senior staff of the foreign trading companies, also the Young Men's Christian Association.

In 1933, The Capitol Theater was acquired by the Lyceum Theatre and became Lyceum second-run film screening venue.

In 1941, the outbreak of the Pacific War, Capitol Theatre was forcibly take over by the Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China and renamed as The Culture Theatre. In 1945, the US military club stationed in Shanghai was set up at the Culture Theatre. In 1953, the theatre was renamed Shuguang Theatre, and gradually became a theatre specializing in News report and documentaries. Recently, The Capitol Building is part of The Bund and is currently undergoing renovation.^[1]

The Capitol Building is designed by the Hungarian architect Charles Henry Gonda, and the building covers and area of 923 square meters, and the total building is 7129 square meters.^[1] The main section of the building is 8 floors high, and some areas are 6 floors high. The Capitol Building is constructed of reinforced concrete with a fan shape floor plan and a tower on the top. The overall style of The Capitol Building is Art Deco. The Capitol Theatre is at the bottom two floors of the building, overall with 730 available seats with private box along two sides of the theatre.^[5]

31°14′43″N 121°28′59″E / 31.24531°N 121.48315°E / 31.24531; 121.48315