S. Charles Lee

Simeon Charles Levi was born in Chicago in 1899 to American-born parents of German-Jewish ancestry, Julius and Hattie (Stiller) Levi. He grew up going to vaudeville theatres, nickelodeons, and early movie houses. A tinkerer interested in mechanical things, Lee built three motorcars as a teenager. His interest in mechanics led him to Lake Technical High School in Chicago, where he graduated in 1916.{{cite web |last=Scheid |first=Ann |date=2000-03-13 |title=S. Charles Lee: Architect |url=http://digital.library.ucla.edu/sclee/lee_bio.htm |accessdate=2008-02-04 |work=The S. C. Lee Collection |publisher=UCLA Library}}

While in high school in 1915, he worked after school in the office of Chicago architect Henry Newhouse, a family friend who specialized in theater design: small motion picture houses, nickelodeons and remodeling storefronts into theaters. Lee attended Chicago Technical College, graduating with honors in 1918. His first job was as architect for the South Park Board of the City of Chicago. During World War I he enlisted in the Navy. After his discharge in 1920, he entered the Armour Institute of Technology to study architecture, where he was exposed to the principles of the École des Beaux-Arts which are reflected in his later work.

While in Chicago, Lee worked for Rapp & Rapp, a highly regarded Chicago architectural firm well known for movie theater design. Lee was also influenced by Louis Sullivan's lectures in his architecture classes and Frank Lloyd Wright's work, particularly Midway Gardens and Wright's Oak Park studio. Lee was also impressed by the 1922 Chicago Tribune Tower competition, which juxtaposed historicism with modernism. Lee considered himself a modernist, and his career revealed "both the Beaux Arts discipline and emphasis on planning and the modernist functionalism and freedom of form."

In 1922, Lee moved to Los Angeles. His first major movie palace was the Tower Theatre, a Spanish-Romanesque-Moorish design that launched a career that would make Lee the principal designer of motion picture theaters in Los Angeles during the 1930s and 1940s. He is credited with designing over 400 theaters throughout California and Mexico. His palatial and Baroque Los Angeles Theatre (1931) is regarded by many architectural historians as the finest theater building in Los Angeles.

Lee was an early proponent of Art Deco and Moderne style theaters, including Fresno's Tower Theatre.{{Cite web|url=http://historicfresno.org/bio/lee.htm|title=S. Charles Lee|website=historicfresno.org|access-date=2019-05-11}} The Bruin Theater (1937) and Academy Theatre (1939) are among his most characteristic. The latter, located in Inglewood, California, is a prime example of Lee's successful response to the automobile. After World War II, Lee recognized that the grand theater building had become a thing of the past, and began to focus on new technologies in industrial architecture. His work in the field of tilt-up building systems was published in Architectural Record in 1952.

• Tower (1927), NRHP #79000484 CP, LAHCM #450
• Holly Cinema (1931 and 1935 remodels), NRHP #85000704 CP{{Cite web |title=Hollywood Boulevard Commercial and Entertainment District|url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/236d3254-47ee-4b31-9045-c2999cc465f2/ |publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service |date=April 4, 1985 |language=en-US}}
• Follies (1930 remodel){{cite web |title=Follies Theatre |url=https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2202 |access-date=June 18, 2025 |publisher=Cinema Treasures |first=William |last=Gabel}}
• Los Angeles (1931), NRHP #79000484 CP, LAHCM #225
• Iris (1934 remodel)
• Vogue (1935)
• Hollywood (1936 remodel), NRHP #85000704 CP{{Cite web |title=Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +) |url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views_of_Hollywood_(1920_+)_6_of_12.html |publisher=Water and Power Associates |accessdate=July 18, 2024 |language=en-US}}
• Bruin (1937), LAHCM #361
• La Reina (1938), LAHCM #290{{cite web |title=La Reina Theater |url=https://cdm16703.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/photos/id/101083/ |publisher=Los Angeles Public Library Digital Collections |access-date=May 31, 2025}}
• Bay Twin (1948)
• Vine (1940 remodel)

• Fox Wilshire, Beverly Hills (1930)
• Fox (Alpha), Bell (1938)
• Academy, Inglewood (1939)
• De Anza, Riverside (1939)
• Star, La Puente (1947)
• Fox Inglewood (1949)

• Fox Bakersfield (1930)
• Fox Phoenix (1931){{cite web|title=Fox Phoenix Theatre|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2645|website=Cinema Treasures|accessdate=13 July 2016}}
• Tower, Fresno (1939), NRHP #92001276
• Grand, San Francisco – collaborating architect (1940)https://sfplanninggis.org/docs/landmarks_and_districts/LM315.pdf
• State, San Diego (1940){{Cite web |title=Terrazzo at State Theatre |url=https://www.sohosandiego.org/endangered/mel2010/terrazzo.htm |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=www.sohosandiego.org |publisher=Save Our Heritage Organization |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=State Theatre in San Diego, CA - Cinema Treasures |url=https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/2283 |access-date=2024-08-28 |website=cinematreasures.org}}
• Fremont, San Luis Obispo (1942)
• Huntridge, Las Vegas (1944), NRHP #93000686

• Hollywood Melrose Hotel (1927), NRHP #92000834
• Hollywood & Western Building (1928), NRHP #15000378, LAHCM #336{{Cite web |title=Early Views of Hollywood (1920 +) |url=https://waterandpower.org/museum/Early_Views_of_Hollywood_(1920_+)_5_of_12.html |publisher=Water and Power Associates |page=5 |date=July 18, 2024 |language=en-US}}
• Mailing's (1930), NRHP #79000484 CP{{cite web|title=California SP Broadway Theater and Commercial District|publisher=United States Department of the Interior - National Park Service|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858983|date=May 9, 1979}}
• Leed's (1935), NRHP #85000704 CP
• Max Factor Salon (1935), NRHP #85000704 CP, LAHCM #593
• Department of Water and Power Building (1939), LAHCM #232{{Cite web |title= Lankershim Arts Center |url= https://culture.lacity.gov/cultural-centers/lankershim-arts-center/ |publisher=City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs |access-date=September 18, 2024 |language=en-US}}
• Cheney Block (1940s remodel), NRHP #79000484 CP{{cite web|title=Application to Alter, Repair, Move or Demolish|publisher=City of Los Angeles - Department of Building and Safety |url=https://documents.latimes.com/cheney-block/|date=October 1936}}
• Temple Israel of Hollywood (1948){{cite journal |title=California Synagogue in Mission Tradition |journal=Architectural Record |date=October 1946 |volume=100 |issue=4 |page=104 (PDF p. 96) |url=https://www.architecturalrecord.com/ext/resources/archives/backissues/1946-10.pdf?-733777200 |accessdate=2018-10-19 |publisher=F. W. Dodge Corporation |location=Concord, NH and New York, NY |format=PDF}}

• La Puente Valley Woman's Club, La Puente (1923), NRHP #99000482
• El Mirador Apartment, West Hollywood (1929)

Lee's work on the Los Angeles's Tower Theatre was featured in Architect & Engineer in 1928. Likewise, his work on Temple Israel of Hollywood was featured in Architectural Record in 1946.

Lee was honored by the Royal Institute of British Architects at the International Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture for his work on Fox Florence Theatre in 1934.

Lee received the highest recognition of the Society of Registered Architects, the Synergy Award, in 1975.

The UCLA Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning established an endowed chair honoring Lee in 1986.

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• [http://cinematreasures.org/architect/71/show=all List of theatres by S. Charles Lee]
• [https://dl.library.ucla.edu/islandora/object/edu.ucla.library.specialCollections.sCharlesLeePapers%3A3 S. Charles Lee Papers, 1919-1962] - UCLA
• [https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf3000050c/entire_text/ Lee (S. Charles) papers] - Online Archive of California
• [https://www.laconservancy.org/learn/architect-biographies/s-charles-lee/ S. Charles Lee] - LA Conservancy
• {{Find a Grave|8055996}}

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Category:1899 births

Category:1990 deaths

Category:Architects from Chicago

Category:American theatre architects

Category:Modernist architects from the United States

Category:American people of German-Jewish descent