Iris Theatre
3146 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
3146 Kensington Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19134
3 people
favorited this theater
The Iris Theatre opened in 1910 on Kensington Avenue near Allegheny in Philadelphia.
It was located under the Frankford-Market el lines and when the train went by it was annoying. The Iris Theatre closed in 1969. It was for many years a shop for woman’s clothing and is now a dollar store.
Contributed by
GEORGE MARINER
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
I can only find one Iris theater listed for Kensington Ave. If you map 3146 Kensington Ave, that address is approx. one block from Allegheny Ave. Was the Iris theater that you remember the second building from the corner? Its possible that the original Iris theater was renovated or rebuilt at some point and reduced in size from 1400 to 600 seats. Instead of the theater extending to the corner, the smaller theater might be the second building from the corner or even the third building depending on the width of the lots. The rest of the property may have been converted to stores or apartments.
In the PAB picture that lostmemory links to the theatre is not on the corner but if you look closely the theatre in on down in the middle of the block. You can barely see the Iris vertical, but if you look closely you can see it.
There was only one Iris Theatre and that theatre was located at 3146 Kensington Ave. It most likely was downsized over the years.
A Philadelphia Inquirer article in the ‘90s indicated that the auditorium may have still been largely intact at that time. Employees of the retail tenant said they had moved a drop ceiling panel in a back room, climbed up a ladder and took a peek; they said they were able to see seats and even exit signs that were still lit.
I remember the Iris. I had a few friends who worked there. It was not on the corner. It was small but I don’t think it was so small that it had only 600 seats like the Cameo on Frankford Avenue. The Iris had a sign in its box office window that servicemen in uniform were admitted for free. This was the policy until the theater closed.
Art S.
I remember as a child seeing this movie theater and although I never saw any movies there I do remember it’s existence. From the picture posted in the prior post , it looks as though the theater was built even before the Frankford El was built. I do remember it being about one third down the block from Allegheny and was literally spitting distance from the Midway on Allegheny Ave. And i did know from friends that it had a balcony in it. It became a department store before I ever had a chance to attend.
I went to The Iris, many times. I would have said that it held more than 600 people. It wasn’t as large as The Kent or The Midway, but still, it has a balcony. Among others, I saw “The Cardinal” and “Gorgo” at The Iris.
Here is an expanded view of the photo posted on 1/28/05:
http://tinyurl.com/mpfr4w
Another hi-res PAB photo converted to lo-res.
Worked there as an usher in 1955. It was towards the middle of the block, near the Woolworth’s, and had a balcony. I would lean towards 600 seats, since it had far lessseats that the Midway around the corner. Owner had a jaguar auto.