Cabarrus Theatre
4 Union Street,
Concord,
NC
28025
3 people favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: Erle G. Stillwell
Functions: Office Space
Styles: Art Deco
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The Cabarrus Theatre is now operating as an office for First Charter National Bank. When the theater was converted to office space, the architect kept the front part of the theater BUT converted the side stores into more lobby space and bricked over the area where the marquee hung.
You can still tell where the box office used to sit and the current receptionist desk is the concession stand but modified. The brilliant Art Deco curvatures in the ceiling exist as does the domed lobby and brass railings. To the right of the desk is a comissioned letter by, I believe Paramount Studios, that contains well over 50 autographs of then famous stars and directors.
That is really all you can see from the lobby because you need security clearance to get to the back.
On the outside of the building you can clearly make out the auditorium and booth. Infact, the booth operator’s exit door and steps are regularly maintained and in working condition.
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Recent comments (view all 36 comments)
PS: Yes, that totally contradicts what is posted in the description of the theatre. My goof on the first. The addresses for Union Street hip hop’d a lot over the years.
Thomasina: Thanks for your help as I’m trying to view the work being done at the Paramount while visiting friends in Concord who live on S. Union. I recall reading an article about the work being done with name(s), but I don’t recall where I read the article no if I even saved it. BTW, I was glad to see that there is work being done at the former Cabarrus Creamery location as that building dates back to the 1920’s.
Does anyone have a recent theatre news out of Concord NC?
A recent event revived my memory of the Cabarrus: YOUTUBE featured a short subject, said to have been produced in 1967, which predicted such things as the Internet, giant flat television screens and tiny camcorders. It was so accurate in its forecasts of the technological future that some people suspected a hoax. I remember seeing this feature at the Cabarrus Theater in Concord in 1967, when it was shown with the classic Michelangelo Antonioni film, BLOW UP!
Theatre opened 19 June 1939 and the architect was Erle G Stillwell.
Look all this talk about this theatre,you need to write to Empire Publishing Inc, Box 717 ,Madison N.C. 27025-0717 or call 910-427-5850 and order the book,if they have anymore, called “STOKE OF FORTUNE” by William C. Cline,the adventures of a motion picture showman,this 257 page books covers all the old theatres in CONCORD.Cline got his start in the business at the Cabarrus Theatres.Plenty of pictures from the 40’s.
“STROKE OF FORTUNE” left the “R” out,guys.
After speaking with a historians in Concord, there is no proof that the theatre opened as, or ever was the Carolina. It opened as the Cabarrus and when it closed it was still the Cabarrus.
There was also a Downtown Concord moviehouse called THE CINEMA too that was about a block up the street from the Cabarrus.
The CABARRUS was still cranking out hit movies during the late-1960’s all the way into the 1970’s and early-1980’s. It closed around 1983.