Pretzinger

Commercial Building (1908) in Dayton, Ohio designed by Peters, Burns & Pretzinger
Dayton Fire Station No. 14 by Peters, Burns & Pretzinger
First Lutheran Church in Dayton, Ohio designed by Peters, Burns, & Pretzinger
The Beaux Arts style Dayton Daily News Building designed by Albert Pretzinger

The Pretzinger name belongs to a family of architects and engineers in Dayton, Ohio. Albert Pretzinger (born February 28, 1863) started the family's architectural legacy.

In 1892 he was with Peters, Burns & Pretzinger. He established his own firm Albert Pretzinger Architect by 1906. He was part of Pretzinger & Musselman in 1913 and Pretzinger & Pretzinger in 1928. The firm became Freeman A. Pretzinger Architect in 1941 before switching to Pretzinger and Pretzinger by 1962, and Pretzinger and Pretzinger Architects and Engineers in 1968. In 1980 the firm became Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer, changing in 1982 to Pretzinger and Klenke, Inc. Consulting Engineers.[1] After Thomas Klenke retired in the mid-1990s, the firm's name reverted to Robert B. Pretzinger, Consulting Engineer. The firm closed in 2010 with the death of Robert Pretzinger.

Colonial Theater, Dayton

Albert Pretzinger's work included the Colonial Theater (later the RKO Colonial Theatre) on Ludlow Street. It featured premium reserve balcony seating, twenty individual dressing rooms, and two chorus rooms. Showings changed from vaudeville to movies, and then western movies and burlesque shows as management sought to capture a profitable audience. The 1,800 seat theater hosted Dayton's first "talkies" on September 22, 1928 with showings of Lights of New York bringing in the throngs. The theater had its own chorus, the Colonialettes, and a band during its prime, and acts who took the stage included the Three Stooges, Jimmy Durante, and Ozzie & Harriet.[2]

In 1930, the Colonial became part of RKO and started showing second-run and B movies. By 1964 the theater was sold to St. John's Lutheran Church and was demolished to build a new church.[2]

Records from the Pretzinger firms were donated to Wright State University by Robert Pretzinger in 1994.[1][3]

Projects

References

  1. 1 2 Pretzinger Architectural Collection MS-153 Wright State University
  2. 1 2 Jon Flynn Cinema Treasures
  3. archival photo of the Colonial Theatre Lutz collection Dayton Library
  4. Rudolph Pretzinger House (added 1979 - Building - #79001901) 908 S. Main St, Dayton Montgomery, Ohio National Register of Historic Places listings
  5. Duncarrick Mansion Preservation Dayton Inc.
  6. Educational architecture in Ohio
  7. Preservation Priorities Springfield Preservation Alliance
  8. "National Register of Historic Places". National Park Service. Retrieved 2009-01-07.
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