History
The Columbus Theatre was designed by architect Oreste DiSaia and built by realtor Domenic Annotti in 1926. The Theatre originally featured vaudeville and silent films before being leased by RKO Albee Theater, who renamed the building the Uptown Theater and operated it as one of Providence's premier cinemas for the next 25 years. With the advent of television the Theatre fell on hard times, but builder Misak Berberian, whose love of architecture drew him to the Theatre, purchased it in the summer of 1962. He revived the Theater's original name and installed his son Jon at the helm. After extensive repairs, the Berberians reopened the Theatre on November 1, 1962 - the 36th anniversary of the building's original opening. After more than four decades of operation, the Theatre was forced to close again in 2009 because of fire code updates. The Theatre was brought up to code and reopened its doors November 17, 2012 - it has once again become a beautiful and valued asset to the community.