Grand Theater
2026 S. 7th Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19148
2026 S. 7th Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19148
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: A.M. Ellis Theaters Co,
Architects: William Harold Lee
Functions: Retail
Styles: Art Deco
Nearby Theaters
The Grand Theater was located at 7th Street and Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia. Anna Ravinsky, who initially added the theater to Cinema Treasures, noted “It was already closed by the time I was born, but the wall sign stating GRAND THEATER is still there! It is now a dollar store”.
In 1911, the Snyder Avenue Baptist Church was converted into the Grand Theater which screened silent movies. In 1912 vaudeville was added to the program. In 1937, architect William Harold Lee renovated the theater including with a stainless steel marquee. By 1950 it was operatged by the A.M. Ellis Theaters Co. chain and only movies were shown. The Grand Theater had 949-seats.
Philadelphia zoning documents indicate that movies were shown into March 1959 and then the floor was leveled and the building converted to retail use.
By 1996, exterior siding had been removed, revealing painted wall signs proclaiming “GRAND THEATER, Talkies, Matinee Daily”. See one of the signs in the photo gallery. By 2019 the signs have almost faded away.
Thanks to Irvin Glazer for his research as reflected in his “Philadelphia Theatres A-Z book and Jay Farrell for his research of the zoning documents.
Contributed by
Annette Ravinsky, Howard B. Haas
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The Grand Theatre seated 949 people.
The GRAND is now a tool store…they removed the siding, etc and the original black and white painted wall shows now! It reads, “GRAND THEATER…Matinee—Talkies”. I took tons of pics of the wall, now I just have to get time to upload them!
The Synder Avenue Baptist Church was converted into a moviehouse in 1911. The listing above that Hoffman-Henon were the architects is mistaken. Silent films were joined by vaudeville. . Another renovation, by architect W.H. Lee, took place in the 1930’s. The Grand had 850 seats. A retail store took over by the 1960’s.
Current exterior photos by Anthony DiFlorio III are linked below.
Sign proclaims Grand Theatre Talkies Matinee Daily:
View link
Another photo shows corner view, and a sign proclaims Grand Theatre:
View link
There are more Grand signs visible, too, elswhere on the building.
Anthony DiFlorio III (who supplied the above photos!) received the below email, and has told me I can post it here:
What a memory! But you must know the Grand is/was at Seventh and Snyder Avenue not Sixth Street. It once was a Baptist Church but as the neighborhood changed before WWI it became a hall and eventually a movie house. It was three-four blocks from where I lived, near Ninth and Wolf Streets. I seldom went to the Grand for one good reason. The fare was nineteen cents because it was air-conditioned! It was tough enough for me to get eleven cents for the Colonial movie house, nineteen cents was beyond my reach. But just to experience the air-conditioning, I very slowly accumulated nineteen pennies and entered the frigid world and saw Spencer Tracy and Bartholmew -what ever the rest of his name- was in some fishing drama. How I accumulated nineteen pennies is another story. Thanks for the memory.
Umberto LaPaglia
Some exterior photos here:
http://tinyurl.com/9rmspy
The movie Mr. LaPaglia saw for 19 cents in 1937 at the newly air-conditioned Grand was Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy and Freddie Bartholomew. I still want to know how he got the 19 cents together.
i recently took my father for a ride around the neighborhood (he lived there as a kid) and remembers going to the grand theater alot. he was in there when news broke about pearl habor. he can’t remember what was playing. if anyone has any information could you let me know?
A discrepancy seems to exist regarding the number of seats that the Grand Theater had. The overview states the Grand had 949 seats. Howard believes there were 850 seats. Could this reduction have occurred during Wm. H. Lee’s 1930’s renovation or during another period?
By the 1960’s the theater had been converted to retail use and as of January 2014, Titan Industrial Supply Co. occupied the building.