Taylor Theatre

A photo of the stage draperies in the Taylor Theatre appears at the bottom of this page of the September 1, 1951, issue of Boxoffice.

The Taylor Theatre in the photo we currently display on this page is not located at 19 E.Jackson Street, but in a building now occupied by the Ivy Cottage Antique Store at 143 W. Jackson Street. This is probably the building that was built in 1938 for Ralph and Malcolm Taylor. It was the subject of a lawsuit between the Taylor brothers, their landlord, and their original landlord, recorded on this page at FindACase.

The record says that the Taylor Theatre opened on July 15, 1938. Before the construction of this theater, the Taylor brothers operated a smaller theater in Gate City. Most likely it was that earlier theater that was located at 19 E. Jackson Street. Gate City apparently doesn’t have two-digit addresses anymore, though, and I’m not sure what the modern number for old 19 E. Jackson is.

I have set Street View to the correct location, although there is something odd about the addresses in Gate City. Internet searches for several businesses along this and adjacent blocks return results that have numbers on both East and West Jackson, but they overlap, mixed up on the same blocks. Ivy Cottage itself is listed by multiple web sites as being on West Jackson, as are a couple of other nearby businesses, though Google Maps says this is East Jackson. Bing Maps is spot on.

The modern address of the building in which the Taylor Theatre is seen in the vintage photo we display is 143 W. Jackson Street. It has not been demolished, but is occupied by the Ivy Cottage Antique Store.

Street view.