Center Theatre
212 Second Street,
St. Marys,
WV
26170
212 Second Street,
St. Marys,
WV
26170
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The Center Theatre opened on June 8, 1945. It was operated by Alex Illar, who had previously operated the Robey Theatre in St. Marys. The new house was designed by architect Victor A. Rigaumont in the modern style, and featured an unusual cooling system which involved flooding the roof with three to four inches of cold water pumped from a well under the theatre.
The auditorium walls were covered with gold damask over acoustical rock wool, the 805 seats were upholstered with dark pink striped mohair, and the indirect cove lighting in red and white was augmented by wall brackets featuring soft yellow incandescent lights.
The over-sized projection room was designed to accommodate additional equipment for new projection systems that might come along in the future. The building also housed a six-lane bowling alley.
The Center Theatre was in operation at least as late as 1970, still owned by the Illar family. The building has since been altered and converted for other uses, including offices and retail space.
Contributed by
Joe Vogel
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
Early `60s photo added courtesy of American-Rails.com Facebook page. Exact same roof line as the Street View.