Strand Theatre

810 E. Broad Street,
Richmond, VA 23219

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Additional Info

Architects: Fuller Claflin

Previous Names: Bijou Theatre

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Strand Theatre

The Bijou Theatre opened on December 25, 1904 with a play “Running for Office” by Geoge M. Cohen. Vaudeville soon followed as the main programing. It replaced an earlier Bijou Theatre at 714 E. Broad Street which had closed on Thanksgiving 1904. Soon movies had been added to the program. In 1909, the Lubin Theatre (later Regent, Isis, Park) was opened adjacent to the Bijou Theatre.

The Bijou Theatre was closed in 1933 for renovations, reopening later that year as the Strand Theatre. The Strand Theatre was closed in 1938 and was converted into a bowling alley. This was later demolished and, on the site, now stands the Library of Virginia.

Contributed by Billy Holcomb / Don Lewis / Billy Smith

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

cmastersin
cmastersin on December 22, 2012 at 10:42 am

It’s about time that someone put this theater on here.How about adding other downtown theaters to cinema treasures.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 7, 2015 at 12:21 pm

The Richmond Times-Dispatch of March 5, 1902, said that Jake Wells had returned from a visit to New York during which he had consulted architect Fuller Claflin and visited some of the city’s newest theaters in preparation for replacing his Richmond Bijou. Claflin’s firm, the Amalgamated Theatre Building Association, subsequently designed several houses for Wells’s Bijou Theatre Company, including the new Bijou in Richmond, the chain’s flagship.

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