The masonry playhouse was built by contractor Capt. The Broad Street Theatre was designed by James Hoban (best known as the architect of the White House in Washington). The New Theater was constructed on Meeting Street. The Broad Street Theatre, also called Charleston Theatre, was built at the corner of Broad Street and Middleton Street (now New Street). Its cycle of existence reminds me of the Bible passage at Revelation 17:8, which in part reads, ".and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder.when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is." The Dock Street Theater opened on February 12, 1736-"was", went out of existence in the Great Fire of 1740 and was replaced with the Planter's Hotel-"and is not", and finally returned as the Dock Street Theater on November 26, 1937-"and yet is."ĭuring the time the Dock Street Theater was not, hidden in the shadows of time and lesser known by most people today, there existed two celebrated theaters housed in architecturally impressive structures. The theater is by far Charleston's most remembered, not because it was the City's only theater, but simply because its appellation has survived Charleston's tumultuous history of confrontation, conflagration, and cataclysm. Today, standing on Church Street and looking directly towards the storied Dock Street Theater, the eye catching wrought iron balcony and sandstone columns gracing its facade immediately captures your imagination. I would have loved to place that same time machine on Church Street directly across from the building that became the Dock Street Theater so I could have watched the comings and goings through its many remarkable changing and passing years. Especially the scene where its inventor, George, enters his full-size machine, carefully inserts a masterfully crafted lever, excitedly yet slowly pushes it forward engaging its intricate mechanisms, and fully immersed in cautious wonderment, watches his surroundings and a store's mannequin across from his residence materially change in appearance season after season, year after year. ![]() The Time Machine has always been one of my favorite all-time movies-that is, the original version.
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