Center Theater
120 W. Main Street,
Albemarle,
NC
28001
120 W. Main Street,
Albemarle,
NC
28001
2 people
favorited this theater
Operating as the Stanley Theatre prior to 1941. The Center Theater was part of the Stewart & Everett chain in the early-1960’s.
Contributed by
Ken McIntyre
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
The originally opened as the Stanley Theatre at 120 W. Main St.(Probably after the County that Albemarle is located in)
There is a long abandon theatre with an art deco façade at 227-9 West Main. Could this be the former Center/Stanley? If this is the case the status should be changed from Closed/Demolished to just Closed.
Jack, According to an email from the Chamber of Commerce, the Stanley/Center was located across the street from the Albemarle Opera House which was located at 127 W. Main St. Marilyn did say in her email that there was another theatre located at 231-33 but didn’t give the name, she did say that both buildings were still standing. Doing an address search using 231-33 it comes out Vac & Dash, Using 227-29 it counes out Alpha Environment Management.
This building was not the Center theater and has never been a theater. This building was novalilty store. The Center theater was across the street and a block down. Albemarle has had several different theaters over the years. An open air theater, Albemarle Opera house, Columbia, Stanly, Center, Victoria, Lyric and the Roxy. I have photos of many of these and will post. The Stanly opened in 1930 to replace the Columbia that was two building down the street, West Main. The Stanly burned in the late 30’s and was rebuilt. In the 60’s it was closed, redone and reopened as the Center. The Victoria was on East Main and later became the Roxy. Lyric was on South Second Street. Alameda is on North Second Street.
The stone floor at the entrance of the Stanly/Center theater fell in this past summer. The building is in bad shape and is not for sale.
Two other theaters have been found in Albemarle, The Bijou and the Majestic. Bijou was open in 1908 and the Majestic was located in the Opera house.
The Building Vac and Dash is in was the Columbia Theatre. The Smith and Biles families built the Stanly Theatre and the owner of Columbia closed and managed the Stanly.