Logan Theatre
4732 N. Broad Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19141
4732 N. Broad Street,
Philadelphia,
PA
19141
10 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Logan Theatre (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Stanley-Warner Theatres, Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp.
Architects: Paul J. Henon, Jr., William H. Hoffman
Firms: Hoffman-Henon Co.
Styles: Adam
Nearby Theaters
A large 1,894-seat movie palace which takes up a good portion of a city block on N. Broad Street, near Wyoming Avenue in the Logan section of North Philadelphia. The Logan Theatre was opened January 24, 1924 by the Stanley Company of America. The opening movie was “The Common Law” starring Corinne Griffith & Conway Tearle . It had a large ballroom located on the 2nd floor front of the building which was known as ‘The Waltz Studio’. By 1941 the Logan Theatre was operated by Warner Bros. Circuit Management Corp. The Logan Theatre was closed in 1972 and it became a church.
Some of my earliest movies were seen on its imposing single screen– “Ben Hur” and “Moby Dick” among them. Located in a depressed area of Philadelphia, the structure appears intact and may yet retain much of its integrity.
The church moved out of the building in 1992 and it lay vacant for many years. In the late-2000’s the Logan Theatre was purchased by Dr. Owen Williamson and he is currently renovating the theatre as a memorial to his late wife. Current plans are for a live performance/restaurant venue. As of 2012, much of the interior has been repainted in its original colors, the roof has been repaired, building stabilized and electrical and plumbing work done.
Contributed by
Jeff Hurvitz
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Recent comments (view all 69 comments)
I lived at Broad and Wyoming from 1963 to 1969. I used to play around the theatre especially climbing the water tower on top of the theatre which of course is not there any more. I also would go to the Rockland and the Esquire theatre in Olney where I got my first job as an usher making 85 cents an hour. Met my first girlfriend who worked there behind the candy counter, Robin Baumback. I used to work 70 to 80 hours a week there How someone reads this and it will bring back memores of these theatres and the Era/time we lived in the Logan ares. Used to shop at Leon delicatessen just up the block across the street.
I don’t believe this has been linked yet. This post from Hidden City Philadelphia has several photos of the Logan showing the interior renovations as of 2012, most of them paired with vintage 1924 photos of the same scenes.
The text notes that Dr. Williamson bought the Logan in 2005. The church which had moved into the house in 1973 had moved out in 1992, and much damage had been done during the years the building was vacant. The Logan Theatre closed as a movie house in 1972.
Chandra Lampreich, whose pictures are featured in the Hidden City post is a CT member with over 100 pictures posted, you can view them here.
January 20th, 1924 grand opening ad in the photo section. It opened on the 24th.
Check out some photographs and brief history of the Logan atAfter the Final Curtain
I linked your article to Friends of the Boyd page at Facebook. Not sure that Stanley Warner is part of Time Warner. The studio production facilities, ok, but the historic theaters I think went in another direction to other entities over time.
Yes, the Stanley Warner theater chain was spun off from the studio by 1951. The full corporate history isn’t easy to trace, but in 1967 Stanley Warner was acquired by Glen Alden Corporation, which already owned RKO Theatres and combined the two chains as RKO-Stanley Warner. Some time later another merger created RKO Century Warner, which was acquired by Cineplex Odeon, which eventually sold its US holdings to AMC. By then I suspect that virtually all of the original Stanley Warner properties had been sold off or closed, but if The Saturday Evening Post could trace its history back to Ben Franklin’s print shop then I suppose you can say that AMC is Stanley Warner’s successor.
I’ll revise that then.
I know the owner of this theater. He’s working very hard to get it back to it’s original status
what’s the status with this beauty? looks incredible!