Wheaton Plaza 4
11160 Viers Mill Road,
Wheaton,
MD
20902
11160 Viers Mill Road,
Wheaton,
MD
20902
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Cineplex Odeon
Architects: Edmond W. Dreyfus
Previous Names: Wheaton Plaza Playhouse, Wheaton Plaza 1-2-3.
Nearby Theaters
The Wheaton Plaza Playhouse opened as a 590-seat single screen July 24, 1962 with “Jessica”. It was designed by architect Edmund W. Dreyfuss. A 1970 block advertisement shows this as being operated by a circuit called S & H Theatres. In 1974 two more screens were added, opening in November 1974 as the Wheaton Plaza 1-2-3. In December 1986 it was renovated and a fourth screen was added, opening on December 19, 1986. It was closed in 1987 when Roth Theatres opened their 7-screen Wheaton Plaza 7.
Contributed by
Robert R
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
The Wheaton Plaza Cinema closed around the end of March 2008 and is slated to reopen sometime the summer as the Wheaton Plaza Cinema & Drafthouse.
The original theater opened on 7/25/62 as The Wheaton Plaza Playhouse. It’s opening attraction was “Jessica” starring Maurice Chevalier and Angie Dickinson.
The Wheaton Plaza Playhouse was built by John J. Broumas, according to an item in Boxoffice Magazine, December 25, 1961. The single-screen house was expected to be open by March, 1962. The comment above indicates that it opened several months behind schedule.
The article said that the architect, Edmund W. Dreyfuss had designed many other theaters, but I can’t find any references to any of them on the Internet, and not even in any other issues of Boxoffice. A tantalizing mystery.
The July 4, 1966, issue of Boxoffice said that Ira Sichelman and Louis Heon had acquired John Broumas’s stock in the Wheaton Plaza Playhouse, and would operate the theater.
The Wheaton Plaza was being operated by S&H Theatres in 1974, when the October 28 issue of Boxoffice said that a 600 seat two-screen addition adjacent to the original theater was scheduled for an early November opening. The architectural firm of Gitlin & Canton designed the addition. The theater was to be renamed the Wheaton Plaza 3.
I can’t find any references to when, or how, the complex was converted to four screens.
The Montgomery Cinema and Drafthouse closed after only being in operation less than a year.
Joe, I’m guessing the 4th theater had to have been added sometime in the 80s, BEFORE Roth opened the then new 7 or 8 plex behind where the closed Circuit City and SSA were, which as 1987.
The original theatre was located in the general vicinity of where Target is now (11160 Viers Mill Rd). This Bernheimer theatre opened in 1962 as a single screen venue, designed by Edmund Dreyfuss, with a seating capacity of 590. Two additional screens were added on or around 1973 bringing the total seating capacity to 1,513. The theatre was demolished in 1986 and a new P & G seven screen cinema, designed by the Collins & Kronstadt-Leahy, and Hogan architectural group opened just south of the original theatre at 2300 Shorefield Road. The theatre was expanded to eleven screens in 1990.
BOY, FOR THE LIFE OF ME I CANNNOT REMEMBER THE NAME OF THE TWIN THEATRE I VISTED WHEN I SPENT THE SUMMER WITH MY COUSINS IN WHEATON. FIRST WE WENT TO A DRIVE IN MOVIE AND SAW WILLARD AND THE SECOND FEATURE WHO SLEW AUNTIE ROO. THAT WAS SOME WHERE NEARBY AND PRETTY NEW IT LOOKED FOR EARLY 70’S. AT THE TWIN I SAW OMEGA MAN, WHEN DINOS RULED THE EARTH AND ZEPPLIN ALL IN THE SAME TWIN THEATRE AND THEY WERE ALL PLAYING IN THE SAME THEATRE SO I NEVER GOT TO SEE A MOVIE IN THE OTHER THEATRE SORTA DROVE A 12 YEAR CRAZY. HAD NOT SEEN TWIN THEATRE YET IN AUGUSTA, GEORGIA.
I THINK I FOUND MY ANSWER ON THE TWIN THEATRE MENTIONED ABOVE. COULD I BE THINKING ABOUT THE ASPEN TWIN THEATRES;IT JUST CAME TO ME AND I WAS WONDERING IF THERE WAS SUCH A TWIN IN WHEATON?
I picked up a chick here in 1986 and banged her in the parking lot…. she was pretty heavy but had a great rack. Never saw her again.
I remember going to see the first ROBOCOP movie at Wheaton Plaza, I also remember going to see the first Predator movie and also Platoon.