Royal Theatre

421 N. Superior Street,
Toledo, OH 43605

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Additional Info

Architects: Alfred A. Hahn

Previous Names: New Orpheum Theatre

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Royal Theatre

The New Orpheum Theatre was opened prior to 1912. From what I found it became the Royal Theatre 1927 following a remodel to the plans of architect Alfred A. Hahn, with seating for 420. The Royal Theatre was remodeled in 1935. The theatre was located side by side to the Loop Theatre on N. Superior Street at Adams Street. The Royal Theatre outlasted the Loop Theatre, closing in 1968.

Contributed by Chuck

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

Silicon Sam
Silicon Sam on April 27, 2009 at 1:00 pm

Comparing the American Classic image, and the Google Street View, I’d change the function of the Royal and Loop theaters to Parking Lot. Closed / Demolished….

EvanJChase
EvanJChase on May 25, 2010 at 6:40 pm

Both Royal and the Loop were demolished in the 1960s thanks to urban renewal.

andmsmi
andmsmi on May 28, 2012 at 6:16 am

The Royal was operated for many years by the North Side Amusement Company owned by Martin G. Smith.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on February 1, 2014 at 8:47 pm

In a 1921 Toledo city directory, 421 N. Superior Street is listed as the location of the Orpheum Theatre. The Orpheum Theatre, with 634 seats, was also at that address on a list of Toledo theaters published in 1919. An Orpheum Theatre was in operation in Toledo at least as early as 1912.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 16, 2014 at 9:30 am

In 1919, 2501 Lagrange Street was the location of a 733-seat house called the Savoy Theatre. Later, the name Savoy was moved to a smaller house on Lagrange. I don’t know what then became of the Orpheum/Savoy. Richard Abel says the Orpheum on Lagrange opened in 1910.

According to John Phelan’s Motion Pictures As a Phase of Commercial Amusement in Toledo, Ohio, in 1919 the Superior Street Orpheum had 664 seats and twenty employees, eight male and twelve female. That was not only a fairly high employee-to-seat ratio, but a very high female-to-male ratio. It makes me wonder if the Orpheum could have been a burlesque house at the time.

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