The State Theatre is a theater

Theater (structure)

A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance , a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces...

 on Euclid Avenue, Cleveland in downtown Cleveland, Ohio that is part of Playhouse Square. It was designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb

Thomas W. Lamb

Thomas White Lamb was an American architect, born in Scotland. He is noted as one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.-Career:...

 to be the flagship of Marcus Loew

Marcus Loew

Marcus Loew was an American business magnate and a pioneer of the motion picture industry who formed Loews Theatres and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer .-Biography:...

's Loew's

Loews Cineplex Entertainment

Loews Theatres, aka Loews Incorporated , founded in 1904 by Marcus Loew and Brantford Schwartz, was the oldest theater chain operating in North America until it merged with AMC Theatres on January 26, 2006. From 1924 until 1959, it was also the parent company of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios. The...

 Ohio Theatres company.

State Theatre was built in an Italian Renaissance style

Italianate architecture

The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...

 and was intended to show vaudeville

Vaudeville

Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...

 shows and movies

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

. It opened on February 5, 1921, seating 3,400. Because of the desirability of having the theater's marquee

Marquee (sign)

A marquee is most commonly a structure placed over the entrance to a hotel or theatre. It has signage stating either the name of the establishment or, in the case of theatres, the play or movie and the artist appearing at that venue...

 on Euclid Avenue, the State Theatre was built at the back of the lot it shares with the Ohio Theatre, but with a 320 feet (97.5 m) series of three lobbies

Lobby (room)

A lobby is a room in a building which is used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer or an entrance hall.Many office buildings, hotels and skyscrapers go to great lengths to decorate their lobbies to create the right impression....

. This was the world's longest lobby serving a single theater, and it contained four huge mural

Mural

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...

s by James Daugherty

James Daugherty

James Henry Daugherty was an American modernist painter, muralist, children's book author, and illustrator. -Life:...

, entitled The Spirit of Pageantry—Africa, The Spirit of Drama—Europe, The Spirit of Cinema—America, and The Spirit of Fantasy—Asia. The theater was converted for the exhibition of Cinerama

Cinerama

Cinerama is the trademarked name for a widescreen process which works by simultaneously projecting images from three synchronized 35 mm projectors onto a huge, deeply-curved screen, subtending 146° of arc. It is also the trademarked name for the corporation which was formed to market it...

 in 1967, but, due to financial trouble, closed in early February 1969, along with the rest of the Playhouse Square theaters.

The cover of the February 27, 1970 issue of Life

Life (magazine)

Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....

was a two-page pull-out featuring The Spirit of Cinema America, which inspired the creation of the Playhouse Square Association. Two years later in 1972, and again in 1977, both the State and Ohio Theatres were threatened with razing in order to build a parking lot, but they were saved through public outcry.

In 1973, the newly formed Playhouse Square Foundation obtained a long-term lease for the Palace, State, and Ohio theaters, and by 1977, the Loew's Building was purchased by Cuyahoga County

Cuyahoga County, Ohio

Cuyahoga County is a county located in the state of Ohio, United States. It is the most populous county in Ohio; as of the 2010 census, the population was 1,280,122. Its county seat is Cleveland. Cuyahoga County is part of Greater Cleveland, a metropolitan area, and Northeast Ohio, a...

. Also in 1973, the musical revue Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris

Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris is an American musical revue of the songs of Jacques Brel.-Original Off-Broadway Production:...

opened in the State Theatre's lobby. The revue was expected to run for three weeks, but instead played for two years, making it the "longest-running show in Cleveland history." In 1978, the State was added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 as part of the Playhouse Square group.

Restoration of the theater began in 1979, and was completed in the summer of 1984, after the addition of a $7 million stagehouse. The State Theatre reopened on June 4 of that year, becoming the home of the Cleveland Ballet

Cleveland Ballet

The Cleveland Ballet was founded in 1972 by Dennis Nahat and Ian Horvath as a dance school, the School of Cleveland Ballet. They subsequently recruited professional dancers who by 1975 were previewing performances around Cleveland. The company first performed at the Hanna Theatre November 16, 1976...

 and Cleveland Opera

Cleveland Opera

Opera Cleveland is Cleveland, Ohio's professional opera company, formed in 2006 following a merger between two existing opera companies: the Cleveland Opera , and the area's other professional opera company, Lyric Opera Cleveland.-Cleveland Opera:Cleveland Opera was incorporated by David...

.