A tale of three historic Miami theatres in disrepair

"The Coconut Grove Playhouse, designed by the architect Richard Kiehnel, opened on New Year's Day 1927 with the luxuries of air-conditioning and the largest Wurlitzer organ in the US. Like many opulent venues at the time, the playhouse followed local Jim Crow laws and only welcomed white customers. A few blocks to the west, the much more modest Ace Theatre opened for Black audiences in the early 1930s in an area known as Little Bahamas, where many of Miami's Caribbean founders lived. In the 1950s, the Ace was the only movie theatre in the neighbourhood serving the Black community."

""Because there are so many new people moving to Miami, these venues give them an opportunity to learn about the place that they now call home," Christine Rupp, the director of Dade Heritage Trust, tells The Art Newspaper. "It's not just a cultural experience. It's an educational experience. And it's a fun experience. In many cases, the theatres become the last vestiges of the neighbourhoods that they were once serving.""

Miami's historic theatres provide visible architectural remnants of the city's past, but many have fallen into disrepair as development priorities and identity evolved. Restoration projects at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Ace Theatre, and Olympia Theater illustrate differing approaches to preservation and community engagement. The Coconut Grove Playhouse opened in 1927 with air-conditioning and the largest Wurlitzer organ in the US, and operated under Jim Crow restrictions by admitting only white customers. The Ace Theatre opened in the early 1930s for Black audiences in Little Bahamas and served as the neighbourhood's only Black movie theatre in the 1950s. The Coconut Grove Playhouse later became a leading live-theatre venue but has remained closed for nearly two decades.

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