Metropolitan Theatre
1538 West North Avenue,
Baltimore,
MD
21217
1538 West North Avenue,
Baltimore,
MD
21217
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The Metropolitan Theatre opened on December 16, 1922 with a seating capacity of 1,450; 900 in the orchestra and 550 in the balcony. It was designed by architect Otto G. Simonson. The original entrance was on the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and North Avenue (this was closed off in 1947). The building also held a bowling alley, a large billiard room on the second floor and six retail units.
Warner Bro. purchased the Metropolitan Theatre in 1925 as a first run outlet for their movies. It was the first movie theatre in the area to screen the early ‘talkies’ “Don Juan” and “The Jazz Singer”.
Warner Bros. moved out of the theatre in 1937 and it became an independent house. In 1947 it was refurbished and in March 1949 it was operating as a first run African-American movie theatre. The Metropolitan Theatre was closed on July 26, 1977 and was demolished in 1978 to construct the Penn-North subway station.
Contributed by
Lost Memory, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Photos can be seen here.
A Robert-Morton theater organ was installed in the Metropolitan Theater in 1922. Information about the organ can be found here.
This is a January 1936 program.
i spent soooooooooooo much of my youth here. goldfinger, west side story, chitty chitty and so many more. so many saturdays i would spend all day here.
By the time it closed, it was in pretty bad shape, like many inner city theaters. My cousin says it was rat-infested at the end.