• The Gage Hotel – Marathon, Texas

    Gage Hotel

  • Bullion Plaza School – Miami, Arizona

    Bullion Plaza School

  • Hotel El Capitan – Van Horn, Texas

    Hotel El Capitan

  • Val Verde Hotel – Socorro, New Mexico

    Val Verde Hotel

  • The Owls Club – Tucson, Arizona

    Owls Club

  • El Paso High School – El Paso, Texas

    El Paso High School

  • Trost Residence – El Paso, Texas

    Trost Residence

  • Albuquerque High School – Albuquerque, New Mexico

    Albuquerque High School

  • University of Texas El Paso – El Paso, Texas

    University of Texas El Paso

Sunshine Theatre and Office Building
Albuquerque, New Mexico

 

Description: Sunshine Theatre and Office Building
Other Names: Barnett Theatre
Address: 120 Central Avenue, N. W., (southeast corner of Central Avenue and Second Street), Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, New Mexico
Type: commercial: offices, theatre and retail shops
Original Client: Joseph Barnett, president, Lyric Theatre and Barnett Amusement Co., Inc.
Historic Inventory:
Date: 1923-1924
Condition: extant

Architect or Firm: Henry C. Trost
Associated Architect or Firm: Trost & Trost
Contractors:
Dimensions and Orientation: six stories, faces North
Budget/Cost: $200,000

Foundation: probably concrete
Wall Materials: buff brick
Roofing Materials: flat
Other Materials Used: cast stone ornament
Remodeling and Additions:

Present Owner:
Location of Drawings: none known to exist
Location of Documentary Photographs: authors

Bibliography: (1) State University of New Mexico Library: Special Collections, Box I, Collection 112, folder 3, item 41, Albuquerque, [June, 1923], illustration of rendering, perspective view
(2) Edna Heatherington Bergman, The Fate of Architectural Theory in Albuquerque: Buildings of Four Decades, 1920-1960, Master of Architecture thesis, University of New Mexico, 1978, pages 57-61
(3) Susan Dewitt, Historic Albuquerque Today; an Overview of Historic Buildings and Districts (Albuquerque: Historic Landmarks Survey of Albuquerque, 1978), pages 75-76 and 86
(4) El Paso Times, “50 Years of progress Number,” May 16, 1923, page 14
(5) El Paso Herald December 29, 1922 page 16  Bids called January 1
(6) Albuquerque Journal, March 27, 1931 page 1

Remarks: (1) The Sunshine Building was severely threatened with demolition in 1984 and 1985. Material relating to the fight to save the building are in the files of Edna Heatherington, formerly an Albuquerque architect, and in the files of the Albuquerque Conservation Association.
(2) A letter, Joseph Barnett to Trost and Trost, May 20, 1924, is in the El Paso Public Library.
(3) Work began on May 1, when the present lease on the site expires.
(4) The building was going to be at least 12 and possible 15 stories (March 27,1931)

Prepared for the El Paso Public Library by Lloyd C. and June F. Engelbrecht under a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 1990