Since taking over the Saenger Theatre, the City has worked hard to ensure quality entertainment is afforded the citizens of Pensacola as well as visitors to the area. Through its ownership, the City of Pensacola not only supports the theatre through funding but also through its commitment to providing the community with a strong cultural arts environment. These renovations were made possible through the efforts of the Friends of the Saenger and the City of Pensacola.
In 1995, the lobby of Saenger Theatre underwent major renovations including doubling the size of the lobby, providing better accommodations for persons with disabilities and restoring the lobby to the grand scale of its historic past. The restoration project took four-years and 1.6 million dollars to complete but in 1981 the theatre reopened and today is listed in the National Register of Historic Sites. Through a joint effort by the city of Pensacola and the University of West Florida, the theatre was restored and returned to its standing as a center for the performing arts. That same year ABC Southeastern Theatres donated the building to the City of Pensacola as a cultural affairs center. Later years saw use as a movie house until 1975 when the aging edifice closed its doors. In the early years the Saenger hosted a colorful array of Vaudeville-type road shows, Broadway plays, and silent screen classics. Opened in 1925, its Spanish Baroque architecture, in opulent Rococo style took nearly thirteen months to complete. The Saenger Theatre has been called the Grand Dame of Palafox, but the Saenger Theatre is much more than a Great Lady she is a survivor.
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