El Rey Theatre: A Landmark

In July 2017, the City of San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors granted El Rey Theatre at 1970 Ocean Avenue landmark status. The nomination was made possible because the building’s previous owner, the Voice of Pentecost Church, lost the building after defaulting on its loans in a foreclosure sale. With new ownership that was not related to any religious organization, landmark designation became possible.

The theatre was designed by San Francisco architect Timothy Pflueger in the Streamlined Moderne style, mixed with some more ornate Art Deco touches in the interior. The theatre opened in November 1931 and was constructed at the same time as the Paramount in Oakland, also designed by Pflueger.

The nomination was sponsored by the Art Deco Society of California and written by VerPlanck Historic Preservation Consultants, in partnership with the Ocean Avenue Association. The ADSC received grants to fund this process from San Francisco Heritage with an Alice Ross Carey grant and grants from the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Ingleside Terraces Homeowners. The San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation also gave support of the nomination.

In July 2019, the new owners of the theatre, a joint group of developers based in Sausalito, filed an application for a $13 million project to develop the rear parking lot and both sides of the property into a condominium project, with 42 condos, including 8 affordable housing units, plus a garage basement for parking. The project was described as being compatible with the 1930 Moderne style of the theatre. There were also plans to restore the theatre, the lobby and the adjoining retail spaces, using copies of the original El Rey blueprints, provided by ADSC Preservation Director Therese Poletti.

In August 2019, the developers withdrew their project from the San Francisco Planning Department, and no activity has occurred since.

The ADSC hopes that this project can resume, and that the theater can be restored to its original grandeur and returned to use as a local community space for events, meetings, performance, film, and other gatherings. We will be monitoring progress with the city’s planning department and will alert our members if this much-needed project resumes.

Drawing of El Rey project by Goldman Architects, San Francisco, via SF Planning