Playhouse Theatre
151 E. Broad Street,
Statesville,
NC
28677
151 E. Broad Street,
Statesville,
NC
28677
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Statesville Theater Corp., Stewart and Everett
Styles: Art Deco
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The Playhouse Theatre in Statesville NC was opened on February 19, 1927 as a live performance theatre, complete with dressing rooms, trap doors, and a huge fly area. It had over 1,000-seats. It was fronted by the Stearns office building.
It was owned by Statesville Theatre Corp., but then sold to Stewart & Everett in the early-1970’s.
It lasted as a movie theatre until its closure on March 7, 1982. It was demolished in 1983. A Wachovia bank stands where the Playhouse Theatre once stood.
This contributor worked there as a teenager from 1970-1974, as a concession attendant, projectionist, doorman, and assistant manager.
Contributed by
Kevin Angley
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Recent comments (view all 20 comments)
The following is information that I discovered in the Statesville Daily Record, The Landmark, the Statesville Record, and the Statesville Record and Landmark. (I should keep better notes) This is a great place to put it.
Villa Heights Drive-in Theatre
Hickory Highway Dial 5038
Hillcrest Drive-in
Salisbury Road Dial 5878
Roxie Theatre Troutman, NC
Center Theater (Harmony, NC)
Jan 6, 1949 prices 9cents 20cents quarter
Playhouse March 8, 1954
Adults 1-2 40cents 2-6 50cents Evening 60cents
Children Mat 20cents Nite 25cents
Just was rereading some of this thread. The theatre that was on S. Center Street between E. Front and E. Broad was the State. I can remember that you could go upstairs and look through a window at the projectors.
An expansion of the Spainhour’s store in the mid-60s occupied that space.
The STATE THEATRE in STATESVILLE, N.C., opened in 1940 and closed April 23, 1961. The final feature shown was THE MILLIONAIRESS starring Sophia Loren and Peter Sellers. The site was taken over by an expansion of SPAINHOURS and THREE SISTERS DRESS SHOP.
There was also the CRESCENT THEATRE in downtown Statesville from the mid-1920s until early 1950s.
My family owned and operated the two drive-theaters. VILLA HEIGHTS opened in 1948. We operated it until 1960, when we leased it to STATESVILLE THEATRE. HILLCREST opened in 1949. We closed it in 1959.
There was also the I-77 DRIVE-IN THEATER in Statesville. It opened in the early 1970s. (Difficult to believe anyone would build a drive-in that late.)
I did some shooting in Statesville last year and just posted a photo that contains what is said to have been the Crescent Theater. It’s now a jewelry store, second shop from the right.
View link
You can use this map for location:
View link
Scroll downtown. You can also see where the State Theater was located. You can note other places on the map if you like. That would help grow the value of the map.
Rmc yes, and it was in a stone’s throw off I-77.I took pictures long after everything was stripped.Thanks Steve.
The January 11, 1927, issue of The Film Daily said that Carolina Theatres, Inc., planned to open two new houses that month; an unnamed theater at Elizabeth City and the Playhouse at Statesville, which would begin operation on January 29. This web page about theaters in Statesville indicates that they missed their target date, and that the Playhouse opened on February 19, 1927.
The Playhouse opened with a musical review, George White’s Scandals. As the first movie in that series was made in 1934, this had to have been a road company of the stage production. The last movie shown at the Playhouse, The Soggy Bottom Gang, closed on March 7, 1982. Demolition took place in April, 1983.
Closed March 7th, 1982.
The current opening line of the description is inaccurate. Construction of the Playhouse began in 1926 and the theater opened on February 19, 1927. Although the opening attraction at the fully-equipped house was a stage play, the theater was also equipped to show movies from the beginning, and was one of the four houses listed at Statesville in the 1928 FDY.