TAMPA, Fla. — The sounds that emanate from an antique, nearly 100-year-old organ at the Tampa Theatre might transport you to the early days of cinema.

This organ is an original, and it’s still used to accompany silent films shown at the theater.

“I’m not an organist, but twice a month when we do our tours, we have a professional organist come in and perform a piece at the end of the tour,” Tampa Theatre marketing director Jill Witecki said. 

Witecki offered to show off the impressive instrument to Spectrum News and explain the history of the theater, a space she's had a love affair with since she was a middle schooler.

“My first trip to the Tampa Theatre was on a field trip in junior high and I fell in love with the building and made every excuse to come back and visit,” Witecki said. “I volunteered here and my second date with my now husband was even here.”

Witecki starting as a volunteer intern who would provide tours of the theater before eventually working her way up to the position she’s held for the past 10 years as director of marketing.  

 To this day, though, she said she doesn’t mind showing people around the theater that’s become like a second home to her. 

“I have considered myself so fortunate that for the past 10 years — I’ve been able to walk into this beautiful building every day and call it my office,” she said. 

The theater itself, built in 1926 by famed architect John Eberson, is considered a movie palace. These types of theaters were designed to give off an atmosphere of opulence. 

While many of these theaters are no longer open to the public, the Tampa Theatre is one of the few that still remains ni operation, out of the nearly 500 Eberson designed over his career. 

Visitors can come to the theater and take a seat to see a film or comedy show, but Witecki said they can also get backstage. The theater is offering "Balcony to Backstage" tours that take participants through the decadent halls and backstage to explore the theater's history. 

It is a history that officials with the city of Tampa and Tampa Theater Foundation say they are proud to preserve. 

“I mean, you ask almost anyone in town that’s ever been here what their first memory of Tampa Theatre is, they’ll tell you they came here on a field trip or visited with their grandparents," Witecki said. "But the building, and the feeling that building evokes, is always a big part of that story."

The "Balcony to Backstage" tours, which are designed for 10 or more guests, are offered on select Tuesdays and Sundays.