Irving Theater
5505 East Washington Street,
Indianapolis,
IN
46219
5505 East Washington Street,
Indianapolis,
IN
46219
3 people
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The Irving Theater (Official)
Additional Info
Functions: Live Performances, Movies (Classic)
Styles: Oriental, Spanish Colonial
Previous Names: Festival Theater, Zenon I Theater
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
317.356.3355
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The Irving Theater was opened on December 3, 1913 by H.L. Whitehead of the Idle Hour Amusement Company. The theater was erected by the Guthrie-Thompson Company at a cost of $15,000. It had 535 seats and ‘every appliance to make a perfect picture’. The theater ran as a 10-cent house and showed films from the General Film Company. The Irving Theater was originally built as a single-story theater, in a Spanish style with Oriental motif. The Irving name was chosen in a neighborhood competition, that included the participation of three locally prominent judges.
The property was purchased by Charles Walker and underwent a major renovation enhancing the look and feel of the street corner, Renovations included adding a second story to the front of the theater for a fire-proof projection room and two additional rooms. Approximately 50 feet was added to the rear of the original theater, increasing the seating capacity to 600 (and in some publications give as 725 seats).
The Walker family sold the Irving Theater in 1969 to a group of investors. They operated the theater under the Festival Theater name as an XXX movie house, so named after a prominent adult film distribution company. Angry Irvington residents and City officials tried for 10 years through various legal proceedings to close the theater.
In the early-1980’s, the theater reopened for about two years as the Zenon I Theater, showing second run movies and having some live performances.
In 1987, the theater was purchased by a group of Irvington businessmen and reopened November 20, 1987 as the Irving Theater. The Irving Theater again achieved great success this time as a foreign and art movie theater, many nights filling to capacity.
Closing in 1994, and sold at auction and there were several attempts to find a suitable reuse. The theater reopened in December 2008 as an entertainment destination hosting national touring and local musicians as well as locally produced and old-time movies.
Contributed by
OttoBurger, Dale Harkins
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Recent comments (view all 11 comments)
Irvington needs a boost and a historic theatre would surely add to the “historic flavor” that Irvington is striving for.
I live in Irvington..I would love to see the theater restored for high end acoustic and similar genre concerts, with a sound system that makes people say ,,wow.
Irvington is a “can do” kind of neighborhood. Those old houses are a labor of love and most people in this neighborhood know which end of a screw driver to hold on to.
I’m sick and tired of these blow hards.. They use this project to grandstand and talk,, talk.. talk. I’ve been hearing about plans for the irving for over 5 years now and not a damn thing has changed.
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MONEY THAT HAS ALREADY BEEN RAISED FOR THIS PROJECT?
If you’re not going to retore it.. Get out of the way and sell it to someone that will.
I agree. It has been empty for too long.
On October 1st the Irving was sold to the guys who run the internet cafe, myself being one of those guys.
To address Bruce’s comments specifically: The Irving Theater Foundation never got around to raising money. They didn’t get their 501©3, and their agreement with the previous owner expired this past June.
We’re working on a new website, http://www.theirving.com There isn’t a whole lot to see there right now, but we’ll have a bigger, better site in time. Working on the building is our priority.
To clear up some other things, the coffee shop and internet cafe are in two of the retail spaces on the side of the building – not in the actual theater.
We’ve been working on the theater – preparing rooms for an artist’s space and a recording studio. I got the old sign up and running again. There are two letters out, but at least it’s back on. If you drive by on a Friday or Saturday night, it just might be lit up. The theater will be restored into a live music/performance and movie/film venue. We anticipate this taking at least 2-3 years, but it WILL happen. :)
Anybody is welcome and encouraged to contact us, we’ve links on the website.
I would also like to address Bruce’s comments regarding the theater, as well as respond to the guys who currently own the theater.
The money that had been raised already is still in a savings account. There are plans to give these monies to the Irvington Historical Society. The foundation had tried to communicate this to eveyone who gave so generously. We are sorry if this didn’t happen.
It’s true that people have been talking about restoring the theater for several years. The foundation was active for three years and went through some serious learning curves. The bottom line is that getting a project like this done right can take many years. I visited many other historic theaters around the state and some of the more successful ones had taken nearly 10 years and were still not completed. The upkeep alone can be incredibly expensive.
The foundation had admittedly been floundering for 2 years and we were turning the corner—slowly. We had several community groups that were interested in helping us—and we were trying to work out the risks involved as far as financing. It takes lots of research, planning and a big picture vision in order to make it happen. In the end, the owner just couldn’t afford to wait any longer.
The bottom line is that it would have been very difficult to maintain the property as a non-profit. It also takes much more community support. We are hoping that the internet cafe guys can make a go of it. Everyone in the community wants to see the theater be the cornerstone of the old main street in Irvington. We look forward to that time. I know that if that’s accomplished, many more improvements will follow.
The advice I would give to Bruce is: Please contact the new owners and see how you can help and pick up a screwdriver and get your hands dirty. It’s lots harder than it looks. No one sets out to fail in these matters…we certainly didn’t intend to. We’re happy that work is moving forward.
Any updates to be had on the Irving? I no longer live in Indy (haven’t for decades), but I grew up in Irvington. So did my mom and dad, and the former actually worked at the Irving in the 1940s.
I remember it as the Irving and in the 1970s as the Festival, a theater showing indy and underground films.
I’d love there to be a renaissance and restoration of the Irving as a theater.
The Irving reopened June 3, 2006 as primarily a concert venue. We’ve hosted about a hundred or so concerts in the past year. Everything from the solo singer/songwriters to large national acts like MxPx and Gym Class Heroes. And we’re preparing to take two months off for more renovation work.
May 25th, 1970 grand opening ad as Festival in photo section.
Reopened as Irving on November 20th, 1987 http://indystar.newspapers.com/clip/3534281/irving_reopening/
MY NAME IS HARRY BURKART.I HEADED THE GROUP THAT RENOVATED AND OPENED THE IRVING IN 1987.I HAVE HEARD THAT DALE HARKINS NOW OWNS IT.HE IS A FABULOUS ARCHITECT AND HAS DONE SO MUCH
FOR IRVINGTON .WOULD HE OR THE CURRENT OWNER BE WILLING TO TALK ABOUT SELLING OR LEASING THE IRVING TO BE CONVERTED TO DIGITAL PROJECTION WITH
NEW SEATING , INNOVATIVE AND PROGRESSIVE PROGRAMMING.IF SO, CALL ME AT 317-379-8222 OR EMAIL