Devon Theater for the Performing Arts
6333 Frankford Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19135
6333 Frankford Avenue,
Philadelphia,
PA
19135
1 person
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Located in the Mayfair district of Philadelphia. Designed in late-Streamline Moderne style by the firm of Thalheimer & Weitz, the Devon Theatre opened in 1946 with 878 seats, all on a single floor. A feature of the auditorium were large mural plaques midway on the side-walls over emergency exits, which depict Classical female figures with movie camera and the ‘Oscar’ statue. The plaques were back-lit.
The Devon Theater ran first run movies, then went to second run and this led to screening porn in the 1970’s. It went back to second run films and then briefly screened ‘Classic’ movies, but this venture failed and it was closed in 2000.
After a few years of lying dormant, it was renovated for use as a performing arts center. The Devon Theater for the Peforming Arts opened on March 27, 2009. It was closed in January 2011.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 105 comments)
1983 photo of the Devon Theatre.
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Here is a photo from the Irvin Glazer theater collection:
http://tinyurl.com/qwnhha
I guess I will have to open a photobucket account and copy my Irvin Glazer book to the photbucket and start linking away.
Anyone that wants to see hi-res versions of these photos can sign up for a free PAB account and view as many of them as they want.
That takes away the fun of distorting them.
Never should have put Drexel on the marquee. Bad luck.
The Drexel name had nothing to do with the economy and the State budget cuts.
Did the Devon (in its current form) close?
I’m confused about the references to putting “Drexel” on the marquee. Was the theater renamed?
Wonder how much state tax money went into this project.
If anyone has any stories about going to/ working at this threatre in its adult days, I would love to hear them. I am chronicling the histories of adult theatres in the US. Please contact me at Thanks!