Uptown Theatre
1502 Bardstown Road,
Louisville,
KY
40205
1502 Bardstown Road,
Louisville,
KY
40205
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I haven’t been able to determine if the firm designed the Uptown Theatre itself, but the Schuster Building was designed by architects Nevin, Wischmeyer & Morgan (Hugh Nevin, Herman Wischmeyer and Frederick Morgan.)
After leaving the firm, Wischmeyer worked on the Louisville Scottish Rite Temple, photos of which can be found on the Internet, so he at least was certainly capable of creating the sort of restrained, elegant auditorium that both the Temple and the Uptown Theatre possess.
Fond memories of going to movies at the Uptown Theatre from my home on Sherwood Avenue (off Bardstown Road, a block south of the Uptown) in the 1950s.
April 1st, 1928 grand opening ad posted in photo section. Ad said that it will opening on the 7th, but no ad in the paper that day. Ad appeared on the 8th.
This link is to the October 27, 1928 issue of the “Exhibitors Herald and Picture World” that has pictures of the Uptown Theater. View Link
continued…
“It remained in storage until acquired for the Strand project in 2004.”
From Strand Newsletter 3/12/10
“The Strand Theatre Pipe Organ, endowed by the Shelby County Historical Society, has taken another step closer to rebuilding. The Strand’s organ was manufactured by the Louisville Pipe Organ Company (LPO) in 1928. It was one of a handful of instruments the firm made specifically for theatre use.
Our organ (Strand Theatre, Shelbyville, IN), Opus 531, was built in Terre Haute Indiana after LPO moved from Louisville. It was originally built for the Sipe Theatre in Kokomo, Indiana. The theatre never took the instrument, so it was installed in the Uptown Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky. This organ was removed from the theatre and installed in a church in Tell City Indiana. In 1977 it was removed from the church and placed in storage."
http://www.strand-theatre-shelbyville.org/
Though the Uptown was a second run theatre by the 1960s, for some strange reason Planet of the Apes opened here on an exclusive first run engagement in 1968.
I uploaded a picture of the theater from the 1970s, if anyone is interested:
View link
Since it’s public domain, it can be added here if someone knows how.
That’s correct, kamiel, with the last being The Vogue in St.Matthews (itself now sadly gutted and converted to retail space.)…
What I think was the lobby is now a Qdoba restaurant’s dining room. Ticket window is still sort of there. I think this was the 2nd to last single-screen neighborhood theater in Louisville when it closed.
Many thanks for the info about the Schuster Building, “Lost Memory”. A few other points that I wanted to make in my initial entry about The Uptown was that it was probably the last theatre in Louisville to still be using carbon-arc projectors (it converted briefly to xenon lamps prior to its closing). Also, the marquee that hung over the front sidewalk since its opening in 1928 was destroyed by the tornado that struck the city on April 3, 1974. The restored Schuster Building currently has a pseudo marquee of similar dimensions hanging in its place.