Bonfils Memorial Theatre (Denver, Colorado)

 Streamline Moderne (architecture), NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, commercial building

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Historic former community theatre (now a commercial building) listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).

Built: 1949-1953
Architect: John K. Monroe (Denver, CO)
Architectural style: Streamline Moderne
Areas of significance: Performing Arts
Area: less than 1 acre
Also known as: Lowenstein Theatre
Date added to NRHP: 12/27/2006
Other designations: listed on the Colorado State Register of Historic Properties
Notes: The primary mover in the development, funding, and creative direction of this former theater was actress and philanthropist Helen Bonfils. She commissioned its construction in memory of her parents, Belle and Frederick G. Bonfils. The theater opened in 1953 as the new home of the Denver Civic Theater. The theater company was founded in 1929 in cooperation with Denver University. More than any other single individual, Helen Bonfils raised civic theater in Denver to the high standards represented by the Bonfils Memorial Theater. Her successful efforts to bring first class Broadway plays to the stage of this top quality theater gave the city a class of performing arts typical of larger cities and professional companies. The continued growth of civic theater and the establishment of the professional Denver Center for the Performing Arts spring directly from the Bonfils Memorial Theater and the dedication of Helen Bonfils. The building was rehabilitated in 2006 to become the Tattered Cover bookstore.