The coolest bookstore in the world is located in downtown Rochester, Minn. You’ll agree with me as soon as you step inside.
My friends and I stumbled into the bookstore while walking through Rochester’s skyways last winter. We rounded a corner and suddenly we were inside a French castle, filled with books. Our mouths dropped open as we took in the elaborately painted side walls. Then our gaze went upwards and we viewed a midnight sky on the ceiling.
Like any Barnes and Noble, this one is full of books and a Starbucks coffee shop. Grab a cup of coffee and sit a spell. There’s a lot to look at. Truly, you won’t want to leave. We started on the second floor and then headed downstairs and out the elaborate main doors, stepping out under the grand entrance. We were up and were as amazed by the outside structure as the inside design. What a place.
It is well deserving of its designation to the National Register of Historic Places.
HERE IS A BIT MORE FROM THE WIKIPEDIA PAGE
• Although the theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, it closed on October 2, 1983, with the 1934 movie classic "It Happened One Night," starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. Following nearly 11 years of debate, negotiation, and ultimately $4 million of renovation, Barnes & Noble reopened the doors of the Chateau Theatre on July 1, 1994.
• With construction costs of a then-unheard-of $400,000, the theatre opened on October 26, 1927.
• The theatre originally had 1,487 red velvet seats, compared to today's "theaters," which generally seat 200 at most.
• The Chateau Theatre was one of Rochester's first air-conditioned buildings, presenting plays, concerts, operas, silent and later talking movies, and vaudeville: In 1940, 25 cents' admission provided audiences 3 acts of music/magic/juggling, "Pathé news," comedy, and a main show.
• The original film projection booth sits above the second floor balcony, hidden behind the giant Barnes & Noble mural. Because of the theatre's historic nature and a desire not to disturb its decorative side walls — which replicate an early French (Normandy) village — the floor is attached only at the building's front and back walls while also supported by main floor pillars. The castle, with 40 balconies and 20' high turrets, resembles a 10 century French castle (chateau). Originally, passageways extended for actors to appear at the numerous windows and balconies.
• The theatre ceiling is still the same dark blue as the original. The constellations, which once twinkled as dramatic scenes gradually changed from day to night, are still visible although difficult to see because of the larger spotlights later installed by Barnes & Noble. In addition to a "moon machine," also still present but no longer functioning is a cloud machine, once used to project shadows of clouds across the ceiling. The pipe organ playing for melodrama and silent movies was located on the west side of the current children's book section; organ pipes were housed in the castle gate. The proscenium arch at the top of the escalator rises above the Chateau Theatre's former stage, which measured 33 feet across and along with the organ rose to audience eye level at the start of each performance. Along with multiple dressing rooms, backstage included metal stairs climbing five flights, with showers and toilets at every other level.
IF YOU GO
Rochester Downtown
Chateau Theatre
15 First Street SW
Rochester, MN 55902
507-288-3848
Store Hours
Sun 11:00AM-8:00PM | Mon-Fri 8:00AM-9:00PM | Sat 9:00AM-9:00PM
