The Columbus Theatre on Broadway was ordered closed by the City of Providence for code violations.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

PROVIDENCE — The Columbus Theatre, an 83-year-old Federal Hill cinema that for decades showcased adult films but in recent years had become home to a number of popular independent film festivals and cultural events, was ordered closed by the city this week due to a number of outstanding code violations.

City Building Inspector Kerry Anderson said an emergency closure notice was posted at the theater Tuesday following an inspection by the city deputy fire marshal.

Anderson and other city inspectors toured the facility Thursday morning and noted more deficiencies. An official notice of violation –– which would enumerate the various problems that forced the closure –– is pending, said Anderson.

Until then, the building will remain shuttered. Natural gas service has been cut off becaue of problems in the boiler room, Anderson added.

Theater owner Jon Berberian “seems very willing to take the steps necessary to fix the building, but he’s got a lot of work ahead of him,” said Anderson.

Berberian said he has been ordered to upgrade the building’s fire-suppression system, which does not meet state fire code. City inspectors pointed out electrical deficiencies and extension cables, paint cans and other items in the cellar and on the main stage could be fire hazards. There is at least one broken door, he said.

Berberian, who has owned the theater since 1962, must also comply with a city order from May to re-adhere decorative tiles to the building’s exterior. A barber shop, a cell phone retailer, and the offices of the Rhode Island International Film Festival all have space in the building but will remain open, said Berberian.

The cost of the fire upgrades will exceed $100,000, an amount the community theater can’t afford, Berberian said earlier this week.

Community leaders hoped the Columbus, which has come a long way from its days as a notorious X-rated cinema to one of the landmarks of a re-energized Broadway, would find a way to re-open.

“We love the Columbus. It’s a very important part of the neighborhood,” said Jessica Jennings, a West Broadway resident who helped produce Rated X: One family’s Business, a documentary about Berberian’s efforts to keep the building open by embracing the emerging adult-film industry in the 1960s (the theater stopped showing them in 2002).

Problems at the Columbus, which opened in 1929 as the Uptown Theater, surfaced following a beauty pageant last weekend in which one of the contestant’s parents complained about the condition of the building, said Berberian.

Originally a 1,492-seat theater, the space is now carved up into an 851-seat main theater and a 200-seat theater where the balcony used to be.

The sudden closure of the theater forced Thursday night’s screening of Survival, Strength, Starting Over, a documentary about survivors of Hurricane Katrina, to be moved to the Providence Public Library.

October events, such as the Providence Latin American Film Festival, the Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival and a performance of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown by the local theater troupe, the Rhode Island Stage Ensemble (RISE), will also have to find new venues.

–– With reports from Michael Janusonis

pmarcelo@projo.com