Nourse Theater
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| Address | 275 Hayes St |
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| Location | San Francisco, California |
| Coordinates | 37°46′37″N 122°25′15″W / 37.77705°N 122.42087°W |
| Operator | City Arts & Lectures |
| Type | Auditorium |
| Capacity | 1,687 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1926 |
| Renovated | 2013 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Sydney Goldstein Theater, formerly the Nourse Theater and Nourse Auditorium, is a 1,687-seat venue located at 275 Hayes Street, San Francisco, California. It is host to the City Arts & Lectures series as well as podcast tapings and conversations with notable writers and cultural figures.
History
Built in 1926 in the Spanish Revival style[1] as a part of the High School of Commerce, it was used as an auditorium for student events and assemblies until it was closed in 1952.[2] The theater was used intermittently for pageants and live music concerts until 1985 when the auditorium was temporarily converted to a courtroom for a large asbestos exposure case. It was one of the first “wired” courtrooms with computers linked to a mainframe in Texas used to share documents.[3] After the end of the trial, it was no longer used as a public venue, serving only as a storage facility for the San Francisco Unified School District for nearly 30 years.[3]
In 2013, when the Herbst Theatre was closed for repairs, the founder of the City Arts and Lectures program, Sydney Goldstein, renovated the Nourse Theater and made it the new home of the program.[1] In 2018, following Goldstein's death, the theater was renamed in her honor.[4]
References
- ^ a b "Nourse auditorium reborn as theater".
- ^ Sankin, Aaron (2 February 2012). "The Nourse Auditorium, San Francisco's Beautiful Hidden Theater, To Be Given New Life By City Arts & Lectures (PHOTOS)" – via Huff Post.
- ^ a b "The Nourse Auditorium". The New York Times. 1 April 2012.
- ^ "Nourse Auditorium renamed in honor of the late Sydney Goldstein". SF Chronicle Datebook.