Historic Preservation Commission backs amendment to Castro Theatre landmark to include interior seating configuration

The San Francisco Historic Preservation Commission on Feb. 1 voted unanimously to recommend that the Board of Supervisors amend the Castro Theatre’s landmark designation to include specific interior character-defining features, after a five-hour public-comment session that sharply divided neighborhood residents, preservationists and the theater’s prospective operator.

Planning Department staff recommended that the amendment recognize the theater’s interior — including the raked orchestra floor, aisles and other interior details tied to its importance to LGBTQ history — in addition to the exterior landmark protections the theater has held since 1977. The commission’s recommendation adds clarifying language proposed by community historians to specify “fixed theatrical seating configured in movie palace style,” and the commission also agreed to include 1922-era upper-tier balcony seats in the list of protected interior features. The motion passed 6–0; Commissioner Wright had been recused earlier in the hearing.

Why this matters: The Castro Theatre, built in 1922 and central to the city’s LGBTQ cultural life for decades, is prized both for its physical interior (murals, proscenium, sloped auditorium and…