Delman Theater
4412 S. Main Street,
Houston,
TX
77002
4412 S. Main Street,
Houston,
TX
77002
2 people
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Opened in November 1934 as a movie theater, the Delman Theater was later converted for live performances and renamed Maceba Theatre for short time before it finally closed in the mid-1990s.
The Delman Theater was demolished in June 2002 along with an adjacent strip of retail space. The theater was not a locally or nationally registered landmark, but it had been on the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance’s "Endangered Buildings" list.
Tivoli Realty, which owned the building, believes the property is worth more now without the decaying theater which had been damaged by two previous fires.
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Cinema Treasures
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Recent comments (view all 15 comments)
Here is some history that I found on the Delman Theater:
“Opened in January of 1935. Built by D. Adelman of Dallas, the Delman had special provision for "talking” movies". It showed second-run films, and drew abundant attendance. In April of 1936, the Delman was acquired by Interstate Theaters. It joined the Majestic, North Main (opened on Christmas Day, 1935), Tower and Eastwood (opened March 6, 1936). The Yale, Alabama and others followed soon after. Headquartered in Dallas, impresario Karl Hoblitzelle built his Interstate chain into a dominant Texas entertainment company, with 21 theaters in Houston alone"
Here are some classic shots of both the interior and exterior of the Delman. Wasn’t this theatre just up from the Garden District?
This was the Delman in 2002.
A view of the Delman Theater here during a short period when it was known as the “Macabar”.
Pro User says:
The Delman was closed for some time when it was rented to a black theatre group that renamed it Macabar for a short time. It never panned out and I’m not even sure how many performances were presented there..not many. There was a fire in the buildings next door which sealed the Delman’s fate and later transients broke into the theatre setting it on fire…then it was razed. It did not look like much from the outside but the inside was very, very pretty.
Here are photos from 1983 and 1984:
http://tinyurl.com/c8ohgm
http://tinyurl.com/c4rynw
Actually the Delman was renamed Maceba. I attended some performances there but Maceba lasted a very short time.
The Delman Theater’s grand opening was at 6:15 p.m. on November 28, 1934. According to the Houston Post for that day and the next, the Delman was built by I.B. Adelman, owner/operator, and managed by L.O. Daniel, Jr. W. Scott Dunne was the architect. The premier feature was “Baby, Take a Bow†with Shirley Temple and Jimmy Dunn. The Delman was Houston’s first theater to be built especially for sound pictures. The projection and sound equipment was “the newest and most expensive type, an exact duplicate of that of Radio City Music Hall”. The auditorium was finished with acoustical plaster to absorb echoes and permit best sound presentation. The Delman was heated and air-conditioned.
A couple more 1984 night photos of the Delman Theatre.
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Originally, this was the Delman but I remember in the 70’s the theater name was changed to the “Loews Delman,” which leads me to believe that the Loews chain bought it. I also remember it as the Maceba. I saw the band “Love & Rockets” play there. Rumor has it that it was owned by black Muslims and as the story goes, they were outraged when Slayer was booked to play. Shortly after, it was closed and demolished, as was most of the buildings around it.