Theatre Architects

Born: 1864 (Gray's Summit, Illinois)

Died: 1938 (Denver, Colorado)

Montana Fallis was born in 1864 in Gray’s Summit, Illinois, and studied architecture at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois. He graduated with honors in 1886, moved to Denver, and entered the architectural firm of Frank Edbrooke, one of the foremost Denver architects of the late 19th century. Fallis worked as a construction engineer for Edbrooke’s larger building projects.

In 1898, Fallis left Edbrooke to become the Chief Construction Engineer for the American Smelting Company. During this time he invented a safety device for measuring drafts in smelting flues called the “Fallis Manometer”.

In 1905, Fallis joined with John Stein to form the Denver architectural firm of Fallis and Stein. One of the most notable works of the partnership was the original Ideal Building. This structure was billed as the first fireproof high-rise building in the West. In 1910 Fallis left Stein and formed the firm of Willison and Fallis with former City Building Inspector, Robert Willison.

Fallis formed his own architectural firm in 1914. In the 1920s, he designed the two buildings on which his fame today is substantially based, the Buerger Brothers Building and the Mayan Theater, both begun in 1929 and both completed in 1930. Many consider the Mayan Theatre to be an Art Deco masterpiece. The Buerger Brothers Building is closely associated with the Mayan Theatre in terms of its style, and in the lavish and extensive use of glazed terra cotta.

Montana Fallis died after a long illness in 1938.

Information in part sourced from History Colorado .

Theatres on this website in which this architect was involved:

Mayan Theatre, Denver, Colorado, USA