Quoit Club | Altria Theatre
Thursday, May 21, 6 – 8 pm
Altria Theater, 6 N. Laurel Street
Mix and mingle with great people, enjoy fantastic food and drink and absorb fascinating expert commentary on Richmond history, architecture and culture. Part Happy Hour and part field trip, there’s nothing quite like a Quoit Club event.The Altria Theater, originally named the Mosque Theater, was the 1918 brainchild of Clinton L. Williams, Potentate of the ACCA Temple, Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. Williams felt his fraternal organization had outgrown its meeting place, so he set out to build a venue that would outshine any other Shriner facility, and thus would create an entertainment palace for the City of Richmond. Designed by architects Marcellus Wright, Sr., Charles M. Robinson and Charles Custer Robinson, the original plans included a 4,600 seat theater, four lounges, six lobbies, 18 dressing rooms, 42 hotel rooms, a gymnasium, locker rooms, a pool, a three-lane bowling alley, offices and a restaurant called “The Mosque Grill”. The theater’s construction price tag was $1.65 million.
Following seven years of planning and two years of construction, the Mosque Theater opened on October 28, 1927 with the farewell performance of opera legend Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heink. The City purchased the Mosque from the Shriners in 1940. In 2012, the theater was renamed to The Altria Theater as a result of Altria’s $10 million contribution as part of the comprehensive theater renovation project. The $63 million renovation lasted nearly 2½ years and was paid for with $31 million in historic tax credits, $18 million in private donations, and $14 million from the city of Richmond.
Event is free for Quoit Club members.
Single Event Tickets: $20 at the door.
2015 Historic Richmond Quoit Club sponsored by
