Keswick Theater
291 N. Keswick Avenue,
Glenside,
PA
19038
291 N. Keswick Avenue,
Glenside,
PA
19038
3 people
favorited this theater
The Keswick Theater is in Glenside, a Montgomery County suburb of Philadelphia. The theater was designed in a Tudor Revival style by Philadelphia architect Horace Trumbauer, who also designed the Philadelphia Art Museum. A private opening on Christmas 1928 was held for the Kiwanis Follies. The Keswick opened to the public on December 27, 1928, with vaudeville and the movie “Glorious Betsy” but without sound, as the theater was wired for sound, but the equipment was not yet ready.
The 1,366-seat Keswick played host to everyone from Paul Robeson to the best big-budget films of the day. In 1955, the theater was remodelled to host Cinemascope films.
In the Spring 1980 the theater closed, and demolition loomed. Community activists organized a nonprofit organization to save the theater, and operated the theater with live shows from 1981 to December 1985, when it closed again.
The Keswick reopened in March 1988 under private ownership, with its current incarnation, as a place to see a wildly diverse array of talent. The acoustically luscious theater was fully refurbished in 1994.
The original theater pipe organ was an Aeolian Organ. The current organ is a 1,700 pipe Moller Theatre Organ, originally installed in 1928 in the Sedgwick Theatre in Philadelphia.
The Keswick was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Philadelphia Magazine chose the Keswick as ‘Concert Venue of the Year’ for its ‘Best of Philly’ issue. In 2004, an Arcadia paperback book on the Keswick Theater was published, written by Judith Katherine Herbst.
Contributed by
George Q, Ken Duckworth, Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 24 comments)
Here is a recent night view of the Keswick.
This is the nomination form for the National Register of Historic Places.
Another photo of the Keswick can be seen here.
This is a 2009 shot of the marquee.
1983 photo of the Keswick Theatre.
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On August 4 1990, I was the driver of the tour bus that brought Woody Herman’s Thundering Herd to the Keswick during what may have been their last east coast tour by motorcoach. The band at that time was conducted by Frank Tiberi, and tickets went for $17.00 and $14.00.
I not only got to hear this great band play every night for about 3 weeks, but I also got to play frisbee with them in the parking lots as well!! Quite a gig!
Also have an excellent photo of the poster in the front theater showcase, as well as a front theater view with the band’s name on it – leave a reply should you like me to e-mail them to you.
2 June 1956 Box Office magazine (can find online) p 99 has a photo of Keswick auditorium redone after fire
Keswick is a great place to see a show. I was in attendance on July 10th for TVs Craig Ferguson from the Late Late Show. I was seated to the left three rows from the stage.
It’s quite a facility. I was imaging whilst waiting for the show what it woulda been like to see a movie there. It was awesome that it was able to be saved. I’m glad its being supported and things are booked through next year and beyond.
I am glad that this beautiful theatre was able to be saved and is supported so its future looks good.
as an addendum to Craig Ferguson’s appearance on July 10th…
The note above about the pronunciation, both Ferguson’s opening act (Randy Kagan) and also Craig himself called it KES-WICK.
They both said how much they loved the Keswick. Ferguson so much so, he named his butler Keswick.