Kenmore Theatre

3021 Delaware Avenue,
Kenmore, NY 14217

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Shea Theatres

Architects: Edwin P. Bacon, William C. Lurkey

Firms: Bacon & Lurkey

Previous Names: Shea's Kenmore Theatre

Nearby Theaters

1936 Sheas Kenmore

A classic neighborhood movie theatre in Kenmore, a suburb of Buffalo. The Kenmore Theater was opened January 30, 1926. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3 manual theatre pipe organ (Opus 1225). It was taken over by Shea Theatres around September 1936. The Wurlitzer organ was removed in 1960 to a private residence in Warsaw, NY and later to another private residence in Lancaster, NY. The Kenmore Theater was demolished in June 1968 and apartments have been built on the site.

Contributed by E. Summer

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

hanksykes
hanksykes on October 25, 2006 at 1:54 pm

Organ pipes from the Kenmore ,some of the pipes anyway, were bought and added to the Wurlitzer organ used at the Emery Theater in Cincinnati,Ohio in the 20 years that atos ran movies there in the 1980 and 1990’s.

roberttoplin
roberttoplin on May 18, 2007 at 4:06 pm

The Kenmore Theatre, designed by Bacon & Lurkey, opened on Jan.30,1926 with 1,556 seats. It was demolished June 1968.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 6, 2014 at 9:12 am

Buffalo architects Edwin P. Bacon and William C. Lurkey established their partnership in 1922.

The May 2, 1925, issue of The Moving Picture World said that the contract for the construction of the Kenmore Theatre had been let:

“A contract has been let to the Rowland Corporation of Kenmore, N. Y., for the erection of a theatre and business building in Delaware avenue between Chapel and Landers roads. Work will begin immediately and the house is expected to open in the fall. It will seat 1800. There will also be a public hall seating 900, bowling alleys and sixteen stores. The cost will be $300,000. The stock in the building corporation is being taken mostly by Kenmore people, the plan being to make it a community theatre.”
In 1936, the Kenmore Theatre became part of the Shea circuit, as was noted in the September 3 issue of The Film Daily:
“The Kenmore Theater, sole film house in Kenmore, 20,000 population suburb just north of Buffalo, was taken over this week for operation by Buffalo Theaters, the Shea organization. Negotiations for the lease covered several months. Mitchell Fitzer of Syracuse has held it for more than five years, with Ephraim Bettigole as resident manager. Carl Rindcen, now at Shea’s Kensington, will assume management of the Kenmore on Saturday. Bettigole is expected to join the Fitzer organization in Syracuse.”
The only photo of the Kenmore Theatre I’ve been able to find is on this page of the Ken-Ton Bee web site, where it is partly seen in the background, obscured by a parade float.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on August 27, 2019 at 6:05 pm

1/30/26 image added via Donald Knollā€Ž.

rivest266
rivest266 on May 29, 2022 at 1:49 pm

Grand opening ad posted.

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