Heilig Theatre (Portland, Or.)

David Belasco, a vaudeville actor and circuit booker, commissioned the first Heilig Theatre in Portland, Or. Built by John E. Blazer and Richard Martin, Jr., in the area of Fourteenth Avenue and Washington and Burnside streets in Portland, the 1,800-seat Columbia was completed July 18, 1904. In the spring of 1906, after the closing of the Marquam Grand Theatre in Portland, Calvin Heilig leased the Columbia, booking both Broadway and local shows. Not long after, the Columbia was renamed the Heilig Theatre.

When Mayor Lane had the building condemned in 1909, Calvin Heilig began construction at a new site on the corner of Taylor and Broadway in downtown Portland. The new Heilig Theatre opened October 10, 1910, featuring live theatre and vaudeville. Designed in Romanesque style by E.W. Houghton, the new Heilig accommodated nearly 1,500 patrons. In 1929, the Heilig's management made the switch from live theatre to cinema and changed its name to the Hippodrome. In the 1930s, the movie house underwent several name changes, becoming the Rialto, the Music Box, and finally the Mayfair.

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