Lafayette Theatre
112 W. Main Street,
Charlottesville,
VA
22902
112 W. Main Street,
Charlottesville,
VA
22902
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Neighborhood Theatres, Paramount Pictures Inc.
Nearby Theaters
The 1,064-seat Lafayette Theatre was opened on January 6, 1921 with Gloria Swanson in Cecil B. De Mille’s “Something to Think About”. In the 1940’s it was operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. through their subsidiary Hunter Perry.
It was closed by Neighborhood Theatres Inc. out of Richmond VA on July 4, 1959 with Charles Bronson in “Machine Gun Kelly” & Dorothy Provine in “The Bonnie Parker Story”. A proposed demolition was announced on December 28, 1959 to build a Rose’s 5-10-25 Cent store on the site, with demolition to commence in Summer of 1960.
A shopping arcade is now on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
Judging from the second photo on this page of Charlottesville, by Eryn S. Brennan and Margaret Maliszewski, the Lafayette Theatre must have been in the 100 block of West Main Street, on the south side. The Paramount’s vertical sign can be seen down the street, on the north side of the 200 East block.
A slightly better view of the Lafayette Theatre can be seen in this 1952 photo from The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival, by Elizabeth D. Wood Smith.
An article about the Jefferson Theatre mentioned that the Lafayette Theatre was on the site now occupied by a shopping arcade called York Place, which is at 112 W. Main Street, so that was probably the theater’s address as well.
The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, by K. Edward Lay, says that the Lafayette Theatre was built in 1921, specifically as a movie house. The book gives no details about it.
Closed July 4th, 1959 for an retail store.
Lafayette theatre closing 28 Dec 1959, Mon The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia) Newspapers.com
Not sure why it says that UVA is on the site now. It’s an arcade/mall, as Joe pointed out years ago.