Hippodrome State Theatre

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U.S. Post Office
U.S. National Register of Historic Places

Location:	Gainesville, Florida
Built/Founded:	1909
Architect:	John Young, James Knox Taylor^[1]
Architectural style(s):	Beaux Arts^[1]
Added to NRHP:	July 10, 1979
NRHP Reference#:	79000659^[1]

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Hippodrome State Theatre

The Hippodrome State Theatre (often referred to by residents as the Hipp) is a regional professional theatre in downtown Gainesville, Florida, United States. It was founded in 1972 by local actors. The address is 25 Southeast 2nd Place.

The building itself, a former U.S. Post Office(on the first floor) and Courthouse (on the second floor), was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on July 10, 1979.

The interior is in good condition, maintaining much of the original walls, doors and beams from its Post Office and Courthouse era. It is a relatively small location, with a 266-seat thrust-stage Mainstage theatre on the second floor and 80-seat cinema space on the first floor. The Hippodrome building also has one of the oldest working elevators in Florida which requires the operator to manually close the screen, the door, and then pull a crank to operate.

The Hippodrome uses professional actors and has its own set designers, costume designers, sound engineers and lighting engineers for each of its mainstage productions. It also provides youth theatre education classes. The Hippodrome features Broadway and offBroadway productions and art house films.