Harris Theatre
809 Liberty Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15222
809 Liberty Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15222
5 people
favorited this theater
On November 9, 1995, the Harris Theatre was officially opened to the public. Formerly known as the Art Cinema, the Harris represented the cornerstone of the redevelopment of Liberty Avenue.
Located in the nationally known and locally resitered Penn-Library Historic District, the Harris Theatre was the first moving picture house in Pittsburgh to commercially show “art movies” until competition from other city theaters led to its conversion to an adult, pornographic movie house in the 1960’s.
The theatre’s marquee was restored, and the theatre seats 194 for movies and 178 for live performances.
The Harris was named through a gift from the Buhl Foundation after John P. Harris, co-founder of Nickelodeon – the first theater solely dedication to the showing of motion pictures- and a Pennsylvania State Senator.
Contributed by
Charles Van Bibber
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Recent comments (view all 31 comments)
No idea why, Ken, but I, for one, can never read the copies posted here from Pittsburgh newspapers. The guys who post stuff from New York newspapers get imaculate copies with large type, which one can navigate from top to bottom and from left to right, but the Pittsburgh ones are always inky black and with tiny reproductions. Wish I understood what the problem here is. Thanks for trying.
It is readable Ed, but the type is kind of dark.
It’s not Pittsburgh here, it’s Google. Their microfilming or whatever they do is horrible. If you go on the LA Times database or Newspaperarchive.com, no problem.
LM, do you know if Gerald DeLuca still posts on CT. I came across a bunch of notes for him and one was on this theatre.
Renewing link.
Photo from 1948:
View link
Chuck….Gerald DeLuca still posts on CT. This is a recent night photo.
Here is a photo of the Art Cinema courtesy Dorsett Studios.
View link
Yes, Gerald DeLuca (that’s me) still posts on CT. But I tend to specialize in cinemas of my area, the state of Rhode Island.
An article about the Harris with a picture of the auditorium: View link