Garrick Theatre
515 Chestnut Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
515 Chestnut Street,
St. Louis,
MO
63101
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The 1904 World’s Fair brought thriving commerce and tourism to St. Louis. It was also the reason many famous building’s such as the lavish Jefferson Hotel, were built. And in the year of the World’s Fair, the Garrick Theatre was erected at a cost of $350,000.
By no means a major movie palace, this theater, built before the silent films became popular, was a legitimate playhouse. Named after famed actor David Garrick, this theater at 515 Chestnut served as a playhouse until World War I. What puts the Garrick Theatre on the “map” among other theaters is the Shubert Brothers' involvement. The brothers also managed the Sam S. Shubert Memorial Theatre at the corner of Twelfth and Locust and the Shubert Theatre on Grand which later became the American Theatre and then the Loew’s Mid City Theatre.
Located between Broadway and Sixth Streets in the heart of downtown, the Garrick Theatre sported a distinctive turn-of-the-century facade. Its heavy stone front featured arch doorways. Although the facade wasn’t extremely ornate, it was attractive. The modest marquee read merely “Garrick Theatre” on each side. The theater was small: it had a 65 foot front and extended only 125 feet back.
Notables such as Al Jolson and Fanny Brice headlined the theater. After World War I, the Garrick Theatre didn’t compete with the vaudeville and movie houses but changed its format to burlesque. As a burlesque house, the Garrick Theatre proved successful. At least it was successful until the 1940’s. After World War II, the Garrick Theatre again changed its format.
This time, the Garrick Theatre showed “Adults Only” movies. The half-century-old theater was steadily on a downhill track. On October 19, 1954, the Garrick Theatre was razed — a sad demise for such a historic building. But by this time, the Garrick Theatre was in poor shape. Much of the interior was in disrepair, the plaster was cracking, the seats needed reupholstering and the floor badly needed repairs. Although not built during the golden age of theater architecture, the Garrick Theatre served St. Louis for over a half century as a major theater before becoming an adult movie house.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
Architect was W. Albert Swasey.
Loew’s operated as a first-run movie house from January 1919 to February 1921.
Here is a May 11, 1949 photo of the Garrick freom the Charles Cushman collection
Where is the photo?
JamesGrebe
Click the word ‘Here’. It is a link.
Thanks Brian, now I know how
JamesGrebe
Theatre opened December 26, 1904. (The World’s Fair, incidentally, had closed December 1.)
Loews ran it for just over two years strange.
In 1899 the Garrick’s architect, William Albert Swasey, designed a building for the Masons at 1042 N. Grand Avenue, which included a theater that operated as the Odeon for over thirty years. I’ve been unable to discover if the Odeon ever operated as a movie house, though. Does anybody know? It would have to have been before 1936, the year the building was condemned and demolished following a major fire.
Here is a biographical sketch of W.A. Swasey from the Landmarks Association of St. Louis. It mentions the Garrick as well as the Odeon, but only briefly.
The Odeon on Grand was primarily a concert/recital hall which occasionally presented a film. When the Municipal Auditorium (the future Kiel) opened in 1934 and the Symphony moved its concerts there, a policy of movies and stage shows for Black audiences was attempted, but was unsuccessful. A fire in late 1935 led to the building’s condemnation and demolishment.