Tribute at site recalls Paramount Theatre

YOUNGSTOWN

While the downtown Paramount Theatre is gone, a 12-foot-tall structure using terra-cotta from the former historic building stands at the front of the location to honor its legacy.

The original plan was to save the facade and its iron marquee awning. But two studies showed that any effort to save the front of the former theater would cost at least $1 million without a guarantee of success, and the marquee’s condition was in such poor condition that it couldn’t be saved.

Before the building at the corner of West Federal and North Hazel streets was demolished last year, pieces of its facade were removed and stored at the city street department building, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of public works.

Nearly all of those pieces were incorporated in the tribute piece.

“We want people to remember that the theater was there and without a monument, people will forget,” said John A. DeFrance, an architect with Olsavsky Jaminet Architects Inc., who designed the structure at no cost.