100 years ago today, Saturday, January 28, 1922, the roof of the Knickerbocker Theatre collapsed.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. A century later, the pain of D.C.'s deadliest disaster still resonates

Retropolis

A century later, the pain of D.C.’s deadliest disaster still resonates

By Paul Schwartzman
Yesterday at 7:00 a.m. EST

Washington is well known for its multitude of memorials, a vast portfolio that includes tributes to the likes of Jefferson and Lincoln, veterans of World War II, the passengers who perished on the Titanic and even Sonny Bono. ... Tom Barnes knows of one omission he considers beyond egregious: the 98 people who were killed in the deadliest disaster in D.C.’s history, a catastrophe that occurred 100 years ago Friday when the roof of a movie theater collapsed under the weight of more than two feet of snow.

Barnes’s great-grandparents, Clarissa and Reginald Vance, were among those who died on Jan. 28, 1922, at Crandall’s Knickerbocker Theatre. The audience had just settled into their seats for the second showing of the silent comedy “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford.” ... When he passes 18th Street and Columbia Road NW, the Adams Morgan corner where the Knickerbocker stood, Barnes said, he can’t help but feel a measure of anger that no memorial plaque exists at the site acknowledging a calamity that generated banner headlines around the world. A total of 133 people were injured in the collapse.

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[Remembering the 100th anniversary of Washington’s Knickerbocker theater disaster]

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The Knickerbocker’s opening in October 1917 was a grand affair, with newspaper accounts crowing about the theater’s opulence: walls made of “Indiana limestone and Pompeian art brick,” a state-of-the-art ventilation system, balconies, parlors, lounges and a Japanese tea room. ... “Betsy Ross” was the theater’s first “photo-play,” as motion pictures were then called. A special train transported the film’s star, Alice Brady, and other cast members from New York to D.C., where they greeted the thousands of fans who showed up at the Knickerbocker. ... All at once, the theater transformed an otherwise sleepy crossroads two miles north of the White House, where President Woodrow Wilson resided, into a slice of cosmopolitan hubbub.

Five years later, on the night of Jan. 28, 1922, a record snowstorm had dropped 28 inches on the city. More than 200 people tromped through the snow for the 9 p.m. showing of “Get-Rich-Quick Wallingford,” an adaptation of a George M. Cohan Broadway production about con artists. ... With an orchestral accompaniment, the film had just begun when Moe Gold, 20, a law student seated in the second row, heard what he later described as a “sinister sort of whistling noise above my head,” after which “I saw the roof of the theater open” and “the whole world seemed to fall on me.”

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Front page of The Washington Post on Jan. 29, 1922. (The Washington Post)

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A year later, Crandall rebuilt the theater, maintaining its largely undamaged exterior walls and renaming it the Ambassador, which stayed open until the late 1960s. In 1967, patrons could score tickets to a Hendrix show for all of $1.50. ... A wrecking ball demolished the Ambassador in 1970, after which a bank was built on part of the site, leaving a small public plaza on the rest. If he could have his way, Barnes said, the Knickerbocker’s facade would be rebuilt to honor the site’s history, though not with a theater on the inside.

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By Paul Schwartzman
Paul Schwartzman specializes in political profiles and narratives about life, death and everything in between. Before joining The Washington Post, he worked at the New York Daily News, where he covered Rudolph W. Giuliani’s rise as mayor. Twitter https://twitter.com/paulschwartzman

These were among the comments:

wdccruise 18 hours ago

This youtube video explains the problems with the design and construction of the building that resulted in the collapse:

B-flat 22 hours ago

A Post article several years ago did a better job at explaining why the roof collapsed. I.e., a diagram showed that the roof trusses extended onto the wall supports by only about 4" all around -- when the wall spread due to the enormous weight of the snow, those trusses weren't resting on anything, and it collapsed.

That brought these replies:

Thejestisyettocome 22 hours ago

This article from yesterday goes into more detail: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/01/27/knickerbocker-theater-dc-snowstorm-record/

padnactap02 15 hours ago

Was it this article? There's some discussion of the architectural issues:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/01/26/98-people-died-in-the-knickerbocker-collapse-courts-never-found-who-to-blame/

Wonderful World 24 hours ago

I wonder if any health-and-safety changes came about as a result of this disaster...as other notable disasters like infamous hotel and other theatre fires have done to change the way doors open (out instead of in) and building materials and codes.

Wonderful World 20 hours ago

Answering my own question:

According to the Smithsonian, yes, some building codes were altered. Apparently, the Knickerbocker's roof (while adhering to the building codes of the time) was barely supported by the actual walls of the building, rather than on beams. That changed in the city after the disaster.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/when-a-winter-storm-triggered-one-of-the-deadliest-disasters-in-washington-dc-history-180979446/