Pleasure Domes: Architecture of Gilded Dreams

• Prize
  Silver in Architecture/Interiors
• Photographer
  Christos J. Palios
• Photo Date
  2021-2022

The early 19th-century ushered in an audaciously romantic American gem: the picture-palace. As "movie magic" permeated the public's sensibility, pleasure domes of unrivaled artifice and euphoric pageantry swiftly sprouted up across the nation. Architect-designers embodied splendor of ancient temples, Renaissance palaces, and European opera houses. For a few cents, visitors transported into enchanting “playhouses” of exotic cultures—cinema's glamour revamped the significance of theatres as treasured gathering places. I am intrigued by these historic places and I aim to preserve their memories.