Le Rose Theatre

335 Spring Street,
Jeffersonville, IN 47130

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Additional Info

Architects: James J. Gaffney

Functions: Office Space, Storage

Previous Names: LeRose Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Le Rose Theatre, circa 1954

The LeRose Theatre was built in 1919. It suffered damage from a fire in 1923. Repairs were carried our and in was sill open in 1957. It has a glazed brick front with brownish tones. and the façade still has the remnants of the marquee supports.

The building has been changed on the inside and is now used as office space and warehouse space. While it is not used as a theatre, it is taken care of and used on a daily basis.

Contributed by Lost Memory, Matt Kemp

Recent comments (view all 13 comments)

Silicon Sam
Silicon Sam on November 13, 2009 at 2:48 am

Should be 335 Spring St.

Here’s a Google Street View:

HERE

GreenTreeMatt
GreenTreeMatt on November 13, 2009 at 3:07 am

ken mc the pic you have in your post up top also has a pic of the older Dream, do you have the rest of that to post on the Dreams profile. It would be cool if so. i have just added the dream to the Ct registry.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on November 13, 2009 at 8:36 am

Looks like the name of this theater became detached over the years. The awning over the building entrance now reads “Le Rose” but I think the name was meant to be LeRose, without the gap. The name on the marquee in the old photos has no letter-sized gap in the name, though the cursive script of the two parts is not directly connected. The name of the house usually appears as LeRose in Boxoffice Magazine, and an Internet search reveals that people with the surname LeRose usually use the gap-less form.

Jerry J. Noaks' book, Jeffersonville Indiana, also uses the form LeRose.

The June 5, 1937, issue of Boxoffice ran an item datelined Jeffersonville which said: “John F. Gilooly has completely remodeled the LeRose Theatre here, which has been closed since the floods, and has reopened the house. Complete reseating was included in the job.” Gilooly was then the manager for Switlow Amusements, operator of both theaters in Jeffersonville.

GreenTreeMatt
GreenTreeMatt on November 13, 2009 at 5:46 pm

John F. Gilooly Was also a member of the coast guard life saving station #10, louisville post, he was one of the most famous members. there is a bronze placard on the station which is a National Historic landmark dedicated to him. The Station is the dock boat For the Steamer Belle Of Louisville. interesting little tie in, I thought.

AndyCallahanMajorMajor
AndyCallahanMajorMajor on December 7, 2010 at 3:13 am

Here are my pictures from November 2010.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on February 19, 2012 at 12:19 pm

Jeffersonville Indiana, by Garry J. Nokes, says that the Le Rose Theatre was built in 1920. If the claim is correct, the item that appeared in the July 5, 1919, issue of The American Contractor was probably about the Le Rose:

“M P. Theatre (stg. cap. 800): $18,000. 1 sty. 70x90. Jeffersonville. Ind. Archt. J. J. Gaffney. 437 S. 2nd St.. Louisville. Owner M. Switow. 408 Fourth st. Brk.. non-frpf.. comp. rfg. Drawing plans. Excav. Owner builds by day work.”
The Le Rose is more than 90' deep, though, and has considerably more than 800 seats, and the entrance building is two stories, not one. It’s possible that Mr. Switlow decided to build it bigger, or it might have been expanded later.

There are photos on the Internet of a few buildings designed by J. J. Gaffney, and the facade of the Le Rose does appear to be characteristic of his style (he seems to have been very fond of red and orange toned face brick set off with stone or cast stone trim.) But given the difference between the project described in the journal item and the Le Rose as it was built, maybe we should only put down James J. Gaffney as the possible architect of the Le Rose. Maybe someone with access to other sources can use this information as a starting point for further research.

Here is a 1928 photo of the auditorium of the Le Rose Theatre. It looks to me as though it might have had a section of stadium seating at the back. It was a very handsome interior, although the clerestory windows must have precluded movie matinees, unless there was some way of blacking them out.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on January 21, 2014 at 7:16 pm

“Theater” spelling should be changed to “Theatre”, based on an image of vintage tickets I posted. Image courtesy of Leslie Logsdon via Facebook.

50sSNIPES
50sSNIPES on April 11, 2023 at 10:58 pm

The LeRose Theatre suffered a Christmas Eve fire in 1923, so this probably opened sometime in the late-1910s or early-1920s.

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