Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 03/07/2026 01:11:00

National Geographic was consulted so the stars on the ceiling would sit in astronomically correct positions - then a Viennese machine set clouds drifting across them. The Majestic Theatre, at 224 East Houston Street in downtown San Antonio, opened on 14 June 1929 as the finest atmospheric theatre John Eberson ever built - and the first fully air-conditioned theatre in Texas. The statistics stunned 1929: three million dollars, more than 3,700 seats - the largest theatre in the South and second largest in the nation - with a 3,500-gallon artesian well feeding the cooling system and elevators to the balconies. Eberson's interior blends Spanish Mission, Baroque and Mediterranean fantasy: a courtyard villa of towers, tile roofs, grape vines, doves and a white peacock perched over the proscenium. The house survived what its era did not: cinema's decline closed the great picture palaces everywhere, but San Antonio's Majestic won National Historic Landmark recognition as the finest surviving Eberson atmospheric, and Las Casas Foundation's 4.5-million-dollar restoration returned the interior to its 1929 detail, with upholstery and carpets rewoven to the original patterns. The 1989 reopening built a performing arts anchor: seating settled around 2,264 across orchestra, mezzanine and balcony, and a clever 1995 expansion deepened the stage by borrowing depth from the Empire Theatre behind it - the two historic houses sharing a rear wall and an operator - opening the Majestic to full-scale Broadway tours. The modern calendar keeps it central: Broadway in San Antonio residencies, touring comedians, concert headliners and the annual visits of ballet and holiday productions run year-round, making the Majestic the busiest historic stage in South Texas and the crown of Houston Street's revived theatre block. Practical notes: the blue ceiling's twinkling stars and drifting clouds still run - arrive early, sit back and watch; the mezzanine front rows are the connoisseur seats, the Riverwalk is two blocks south for pre-show dinner, and the lobby's tile, lanterns and aquarium alcove reward a walk-through even when the show upstairs is sold out.