NATCHEZ, Miss. – The Historic Natchez Foundation’s transfer of the old Ritz theater to new owners raises hopes the landmark will be restored to bring more commercial life to downtown Natchez.
“HNF nursed the ruins of The Ritz for over 18 years and never lost hope that our city’s grandest example of Art Deco architecture would one day be restored,” executive director Carter Burns said in announcing that Steve Campo and Mamie Henry acquired the 86-year-year Commerce Street building last week.
While the structure is severely dilapidated behind the rainbow-colored movie-theater marquee and façade with neon lights, the developersplan to restore and convert it into a marketplace for various vendors of food and other items.
“HNF is excited about the future of The Ritz, and we look forward to working with the new owners,” said HNF President Mac Hazlip.
The Ritz opened in 1935 and ceased showing movies around 1970, according to HNF. It was one of at least four movie houses in downtown Natchez during its heyday: The Baker Grand on Pearl Street, The Clarke on Main Street and The Star on Franklin Street.
The Historic Natchez Foundation acquired The Ritz in 2002 and has since been trying to preserve it and find someone with the wherewithal to rehabilitate the building into viable commercial space. Campo and Henry offered the most viable proposition, according to HNF. The New Orleans-area residents also separately acquired adjoining downtown property that extends north from The Ritz and wraps around the corner of Franklin and Commerce Streets.
“The proposal for The Ritz was particularly timely for HNF as we were on the verge of having to undertake major restoration work on The Ritz without a plan for the building’s use and at a time when we are still financially recovering from our investment in the preservation of the fire-damaged Prentiss Club,” Hazlip said.
Both The Ritz and Prentiss Club were donated to HNF by previous owners entrusting the foundation to preserve the historic buildings and find new owners.
HNF in December deeded the Prentiss Club on Pearl Street to filmmakers Tate Taylor and John Norris, Burns said. HNF has been preserving it since gutted by fire in 2018. Built in 1905, the Prentiss Club is considered one of the city’s two “most architecturally sophisticated and finely finished 20thCentury buildings,” according to HNF. The other is the Temple B’nai Israel Jewish synagogue.
Taylor and Norris are seeking tax breaks from the city and state as they pursue their commercial venture for the Prentiss Club, which in the early 1900s was a center of Natchez social life with the city’s grandest ballroom, according to historical accounts.
Historic preservation tax credits are also available for The Ritz’ rehabilitation. After it ceased operating as a movie theater about 50 years ago, it was used only for storage until about 2000, when the entire roof structure collapsed, according to the Historic Natchez Foundation. After its acquisition two years later, HNF spent months cleaning out the debris and salvaging move-theater relics — including the metal end-panels of rotted wood seats, light fixtures, movie reels, rolls of tickets and other memorabilia.
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