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Palace (Capitol) Theatre - 2/7 Kimball
Juneau, Alaska
422 Franklin St. - Triangle Building
 
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According to Juneau theatre organist J. Allan McKinnon, the Palace Theatre was owned and operated during the silent era by Mr. John Spickett. Allan's former music teacher, the late Carol Beery Davis, came to Juneau in 1920 to play the organ for Spickett at the Palace. The organ was a Kimball "box car" style, with tubular pneumatic action and was installed to the right of the screen with pipes and attached console in plain view. The organ was later sold to the Northern Light Presbyterian Church and moved up the hill to their building at 4th and Franklin. Ms. Davis made the move and played at the church for many years. The organ remained in that structure until removal in 1962 when the building was razed.
 
Allan still has parts of this organ including a couple sets of pipes, the Diapason display pipes (painted gold!) and sections of the carved wooden case. The console was lost in a rebuild in about 1959 or '60.
 
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The theatre was later renamed the Capitol. It operated under that name until 1998 when the Palace name was reinstalled on the building and a local community theatre group used the space.
 
The Palace Theatre building runs clear through the block to Front Street. Interestingly, the theatre actually shares a concrete fire wall with the 20th Century Theatre on the opposite side of the Triangle Building as shown here:
 
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