Donations Rescue Baltimore's 1939 Theater
By Margaret Foster | From Preservation | Mar. 20, 2007
It was like a scene from a movie—the final scene of It's a Wonderful Life, perhaps.
When residents of Baltimore heard that the 1939 art deco Senator Theatre would be auctioned if its owner didn't make his late mortgage payments, they acted. Just hours before a bank planned sell the single-screen theater at an auction, owner Tom Kiefaber raised the necessary cash. In eight days, Kiefaber received $120,000 in donations from 3,500 people from all across the country and in Europe.
"I almost lost my theater," Kiefaber says. "I came 12 hours from losing it, and the public saved it. The public changed the ending."
To protect the theater, the city's commission for historical and architectural preservation voted unanimously on Mar. 5 to put a six-month moratorium on exterior changes to the building. It also asked the city council to add the Senator to the list of 125 city landmarks, which would prevent changes to the interior of the building.
Kiefaber, whose family has operated the building for the past 67 years, says he has "mixed feelings" about the moratorium.
Like George Bailey in Frank Capra's 1946 film, Kiefaber was shocked by the generosity of people from all over the country and in Europe. "I'm still stunned," Kiefaber says. "I kept reaching in my pocket and expecting to pull out Zuzu's petals."
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