Metropolitan Theatre

1538 W. North Avenue,
Baltimore, MD 21217

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: State Theatres Circuit (aka Rome Theaters), Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.

Architects: Otto G. Simonson

Styles: Colonial Revival

Previous Names: Warner's Metropolitan Theatre, Met Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Metropolitan Theatre

The Metropolitan Theatre opened on December 16, 1922 with Elaine Hammerstein in “One Week of Love”. It had 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 W. 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 Bros. 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 was taken over by the Rome Theaters chain. 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

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

moift
moift on February 4, 2009 at 3:28 pm

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.

bdlyles
bdlyles on July 24, 2009 at 7:57 am

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.

rivest266
rivest266 on February 2, 2017 at 12:52 am

December 17th, 1922 grand opening ad in the photo section.

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