Bijou Theatre, Knoxville

The Bijou Theatre is housed in the Lamar House Hotel building and is located in the rear wing thereof which was added in 1909.

The hotel itself dates back to 1817 and was modified in the 1850s. It was built by Irish immigrant Thomas Humes (1767–1816) and his descendants and quickly emerged as a gathering place for Knoxville's wealthy. During the Civil War, the Union Army used the building as a hospital for their wounded. Following the war, the hotel became the center of Knoxville's Gilded Age extravagance, hosting lavish masquerade balls for the local elite.

In 1909, it had a new lobby cut through from Gay Street to accommodate the Bijou Theatre which opened its doors for the first time on March 8, 1909. In the following decades, at various times, the theater served as a venue for traditional stage performances, vaudeville, and a second-run and pornographic movie house, as well as a commencement stage for the city's African-American high school.

Among those who have graced the theater's stage over the years are the likes of the Marx Brothers, Dizzy Gillespie, John Philip Sousa, the Ballets Russes, Ethel Barrymore, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, John Cullum, and Houdini.

In recognition of their architectural and historical value, both the building and the theater were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.