Louxor Cinema

 

At 170 Boulevard Magenta,  the amazing room of  "Le Louxor" is a unique place.,
Henri Silberberg, a businessman with many activities, intends to take advantage of this emerging industry in 1919 and bought the Haussmann building of dual address 53 Boulevard de la Chapelle and 170 boulevard Magenta, strategic location to build a large hall cinema. He appealed to the architect Henri Zipcy and file a dossier to the prefect of the Seine. Work can begin in 1920. The cinema has 1195 seats with a great room, first balcony and gallery. Inside, the designer is responsible Amédée Tiberti stencil paintings and reliefs, brilliantly designed with a real job on color.

The Gentil and Bourdet company specializing in ceramics, makes exterior decoration made of fine  mosaics  on three fronts. Everything is done in an Art Deco style inspired by ancient Egypt: some elements are direct copies of Egyptian art (scarabs, lotus and papyrus friezes, winged disks), others are more fantasized elements Egypt seen by Western as fanciful hieroglyphics decorating the beams of the hall ceiling. The name of the room is chosen in reference to the Egyptian city built on the ruins of the ancient city of Thebes, the ancient capital of the kings of Egypt: Luxor. The Louxor is a temple that contrasts sharply with the Haussmann buildings. If egyptomania is fashionable in France in the 1920s, especially after the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, Lle Louxor however is a unique example of Egyptian room in Paris. To find similar premises, go to the United States, have a look for example  to the Hollywood Grauman's Egyptian Theatre, which opened in 1922.

The Louxor was inaugurated on the evening of October 6, 1921.

 This golden age was short lived as early as the late 1950s, attendance down. News migrate from the great to the small screen, despite the advent of color, the public gradually abandoned cinemas. Between 1955 and 1966, the number of annual entries  goes down from 430 000 to 150 000. The  Louxor tries to resist this crisis: major renovations are carried out in 1954 and 1964. The number of seats is reduced; it is converted to CinemaScope and all of its technical equipment is upgraded. Above the porch is painted a large colorful mural, depicting iconic characters and film actors such as John Wayne and Batman. A turning point is taken in the late sixties, when attendance reached its lowest level. The operator of Louxor drop ticket prices from June to February francs, and programming changes radically. French films are abandoned and the focus is on less expensive films for rent. The action films, sometimes from Asia, series B, spaghetti westerns and epic films,  now form the bulk of programming.

 The direction of Louxor attempts to deal with the crisis of the entire cinema industry. The decision is made to turn from the 1970s to the Egyptian and North African cinema  that receives some resonance within the mixed population of the Goutte d'Or. In the early 1980s, Indian films, subtitled in French or Arabic, are becoming increasingly common in programming: some classic (Mother India , by Mehboob Khan) are regularly scheduled alongside more recent productions. The Louxor, with its new pinball, plays a social role at the crossroads Barbès-Rochechouart: it is a living place, a meeting place as much as a movie theater.
 The Louxor is old, and some think, in the 1970s, to protect this historic building.
 In 1981, the new Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, registered the facade and roof  to the additional Inventory of Historic Monuments. The Louxor was able to maintain a viable attendance until the late 1970s, but he can not resist the irremediable drop in the number of spectators that begins in 1976 and brings attendance to 274,750 entries in 1982. On 29 November 1983 the big red curtain closes at the end of  Qaid (an urdu movie..). The next day the Tati discounter  group becomes the owner of  the place for six million francs.
This is the beginning of a long journey through the desert to the old "Palais cinema". Redevelopment projects succeed without success. Pathé had prepared a restructuring plan, before giving up. Tati are plans to create a store, but also gives up. In 1986, the Louxor is transformed into a nightclub and becomes The Evasion. This Caribbean nightclub closes a few months later to be replaced by Megatown, "the biggest gay disco of France." The establishment quickly closes. While rehabilitation projects follow one another in the 1990s, the walls of the Louxor deteriorate gradually as tags and posters. Registration for the historical extra Inventory protects the building from destruction or inadequate restructuring, but the owner does not respond to requests for renovation of the facade.
Local residents, gathered in the Barbes Action Association mobilized in 2001 to save the Louxor. The mobilization of the people, supported by the City Council, finally paid off, since July 25, 2003, the city becomes owner of Louxor.
 Provisional safeguard measures are decided and an important diagnosis is made, revealing the scope of work. In 2007, the City Council made the choice to give back to Louxor its original function, that of a movie theater. The people must wait until June 2008 for a rehabilitation project to be retained. The City of Paris emits a tender and selected from 65 submissions that of architect Philippe Pumain whose project reconciles the functional aspect to the return of the original appearance of the place. The choice is made to make  Louxor the appearance it had in the 1920s, which means at first a research, almost archeology, to reveal the original decoration, covered with various layers of paintings.

   On 17 April 2013, the Louxor is inaugurated. This historic site now regained its luster and the letters "LOUXOR - PALACE CINEMA" are again displayed proudly on the Barbès crossroades. The facades of Henry Zipcy always fulfill their role: catch the eye of passersby. The Louxor, ranked room Arthouse, now offers a varied program, including many first-run movies, with focus on the South and the cinema for children. Beyond its heritage dimension, which a lot of interest, the Louxor is  again what he had always been: a movie theater.