Spanish Baroque 1928 movie palace turned CAPA performing arts house where the stage manager 'Charlie' is said to greet stagehands long after his shift ended.
39 E State Street, Columbus, OH 43215
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
Performance tickets vary by show; CAPA periodically offers tours of the historic interior.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Restored 1928 movie palace with elevator access to balcony levels
Equipment
No Photos
Est. 1928 · National Historic Landmark · Movie Palace Era · Theatre Preservation Movement · Thomas W. Lamb Architecture
Loew's Ohio Theatre opened to the public on March 17, 1928 with the silent film 'The Big City.' Architect Thomas W. Lamb designed the building in the Spanish Baroque idiom, a relatively unusual choice for the Midwest at the time — heavy gilding, twisted Solomonic columns, ornate plasterwork, and a coffered ceiling combining to evoke a 17th-century Iberian palace.
Attendance fell after the Second World War as audiences shifted to suburban theaters and television. The theater closed in 1969, and the property was slated for demolition. Local preservationists organized in response, forming the Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) as the nonprofit operator that would raise restoration funds and convert the building from a movie palace to a live performing-arts venue.
The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 5, 1977, and designated a National Historic Landmark the same year. The 1970s restoration returned the interior to its original 1928 appearance and the Ohio Theatre is often cited as one of the earliest and most influential historic-theater restorations in the United States.
In 1984 the adjacent Grand Theatre property was redeveloped into the Galbreath Pavilion, expanding the lobby and backstage facilities without altering the historic auditorium. Today the Ohio Theatre seats roughly 2,791 and is the principal venue of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra as well as a year-round host of touring Broadway, classical, and film events.
Sources
The Ohio Theatre's resident spirit, according to staff and local folklore aggregated by Downtown Columbus, Taking the Kids, and the CAPA-side oral tradition, is 'Charlie,' a stage manager who worked the building in the 1970s. Stagehands tell of Charlie opening elevator doors at odd moments, blowing out lightbulbs during set changes, and otherwise gently interfering with backstage routine — pranks rather than malice.
A second recurring figure is a ghostly usher in vintage uniform who reportedly guides patrons to seats and disappears when thanked. Musicians performing with the Columbus Symphony have reported the sensation of being watched from empty upper balconies and occasional phantom applause from empty seats.
All of these reports are folkloric and second-hand — there is no formal paranormal investigation record at the building, and CAPA does not market the theater as haunted in its primary programming. The stories accumulate through staff anecdotes shared seasonally and through Columbus tourism coverage each October.
Notable Entities
Media Appearances
Columbus Association for the Performing Arts (CAPA) offers periodic guided tours of the Ohio Theatre's Spanish Baroque interior, restoration history, and backstage spaces. Tour cadence varies seasonally — confirm at capa.com.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
El Paso, TX
The Plaza Theatre opened September 12, 1930 on Pioneer Plaza in downtown El Paso. Developer Louis L. Dent commissioned the Spanish Colonial Revival movie palace in 1927, and the inaugural night drew a crowd of 2,410. Its lavish interior was designed to evoke 'the fabled beauty of Old Spain and the charm of Old Mexico.' After decades of decline, the theatre was extensively restored and reopened as a performing-arts venue, now home to the Plaza Classic Film Festival and a wide range of touring performances.
Joliet, IL
The Rialto Square Theatre opened May 24, 1926, designed by Chicago firm Rapp & Rapp for the six Rubens brothers. Its Neo-Baroque interior — modeled in part on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — earned it a place on the American Institute of Architects's '150 Great Places in Illinois' and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
Columbus, OH
Studio 35 opened on February 17, 1938 as the 700-seat Indianola Theatre, showing 'Stage Door.' It has operated continuously at 3055 Indianola Avenue in Clintonville. In the early 1970s, under owner Frank Marzetti, it became the first cinema in the United States licensed to sell alcohol — the move that defined its identity as a drafthouse.