19 Jun 2010

Lost Capitol Hill: Meader’s Theater

If there’s one thing missing on Capitol Hill, it’s a movie theater. It would be wonderful to be able to walk to see a movie, instead of having to take the metro or, worse, drive. With the Union Station closed, the closest theaters are at Gallery Place and on E Street NW. This was not always the case, and today we’ll look at an interesting niche theater on 8th Street, one which was known for running 3rd and 4th run movies. This was Meader’s Theater.

Meader’s Theater opened on December 27, 1909 at 535 8th Street Southeast. It had a capacity of 480 patrons, and was built both to show movies and for vaudeville performances. A year later, it was back in the news as the venue for a Christmas-themed celebration, featuring both “Santa Claus and the Sousa Juvenile Minstrels,” according to the Washington Herald of December 28, 1910, foreshadowing its eventual use.

The picture below, from Shorpys.com, shows the theater in 1919 or so. By then, it was on a steady diet of third-run movies; the three movies for which posters can be seen were all released or re-released in 1919.

By the time this picture was taken, the theater had already been sold once. Over the next 40 years, the theater changed hands and names numerous times: In 1924, the theater was known as the New Meader Theater, which was shortened, in 1927, to New Theatre, though it hardly seems to have changed the theater’s mission. At the same time, it was sold to the Stanley-Crandall chain.

It continued to change its name over the years, though not its mission. Finally, in 1960, it was bought by Blaine Massey, who renamed it the Art Academy theater, and its specialty was changed to foreign movies. This new lease on life did not last long, as later that year, it was back to just being the simple ‘Academy’ and was showing ‘discount movies,’ the owner wanted to show “big pictures at tiny prices” shortly after that, he ‘restored’ it and was showing double bills. None of these changes really helped the theater’s prospects, and in 1962 it was taken over by Fred and Charlotte Hall, who turned it into a church. To this day, the People’s Church is a fixture on Barracks Row.

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