Chelten Theatre
1159 E. Chelten Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19138
1159 E. Chelten Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19138
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The Chelten Theatre opened in 1935, with seating for around 800. The Art Moderne style theater was located on Chelten Avenue near Ardeleigh Street and designed by the firm of Thalheimer & Weitz.
The Chelten remained in operation as a movie house until 1973, and afterward became home to a church.
Contributed by
Bryan
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The Chelten Theatre, located at 1159 E. Chelten Avenue (Chelten & Anderson Street), was an 800 seat theatre that opened in 1935. Never inside the theatre myself, the exterior is a modern, contemporary style that one site refers to as “art moderne”. As a movie theatre that showed current films, this theatre actually had a short run. The theatre started showing Christian films around 1953 or 1954. That is how I remember this theatre, as a Christian film cinema. It continued to show Christian films until 1973, when it was converted into a church. Today, it is still a church and still very resembles the theatre that opened in 1935, but the marquee is now gone.
I was born and raised in Germantown. This theatre closed before my time (showed Christian films during my growing-up years). Curious about it though. Anybody remember what it looked like inside? Email me at or post what you remember here. Thanks.
Here is the theater as it appeared a few years ago:
http://tinyurl.com/yhumxpt