22 Aug 2011

Lost Capitol Hill: The Carolina Theater

In looking at the movie theaters that were built on Capitol Hill over the years, there are three distinct phases: At first, theaters were built on main drags: 8th Street, Pennsylvania Avenue, H Street. Then, as demand grew and theaters proliferated, they were built in and among the residences. Finally, as color spectacles became the norm, the theaters were, once again, built along main streets.

Today, we look at another of the neighborhood theaters.

The Carolina Theater was built in 1913 at the corner of 11th Street and North Carolina Avenue, right across from Lincoln Park. It was the first of the neighborhood theaters, and was comfortably removed from the other theaters, which were either near what is now Eastern Market Metro plaza, or H Street NE. With the large number of people living close by, it made for an excellent place to drop in for a movie.

The theater, which was designed by local architect Benjamin F. Meyers, had seats for only 280 patrons. However, it was – as an advertisement for the theater stated – ‘the most sanitary theatre in the city showing licensed pictures.’ How much that was relevant in convincing patrons to abandon the other theaters nearby, and why anyone would think that a theater showing unlicensed pictures would likely be more sanitary, remains unclear.

Ad for the Carolina Theater from 1913. (LOC)

In 1919, William C Murphy, who had operated the theater for the Robbins brothers, bought the Carolina from them with the intention of expanding it greatly. However, in the end, the Carolina was only redone slightly. The architect for this facelift was William S Plager, who had made a name for himself working for theaterical mogul Harry Crandall. Plager enlarged the theater by 40 seats, and the entrance was remodeled, such that the entrance was no longer on North Carolina Avenue, but on 11th Street.

In this new configuration, the Carolina man aged to survive another 30 years, surviving not just the great depression, but incidents such as the one in 1937 when an assistant manager climbed up into the rafters in search of the source of a ‘strange odor.’ When he failed to return, the fire rescue squad was called and the assistant manager was found, unconscious. What caused all this was never determined.

In general, however, the Carolina did not show up in the news much, though they did try to help out in the neighborhood, as in 1950, when they had a Christmas program, the admission to which was either canned goods or clothing, which were to be distributed to needy neighbors shortly before the holiday.

In 1952, the Carolina was shuttered, and a year later – in what was seen as a symbol of the times – into a TV studio. The McGeary-Smith Laboratories produced films there that were to be shown on television.

Today, the site holds a number of condominiums, and only the old police call box on Lincoln Park stands as testament to the previous use of this plot of land.

 

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One response to “Lost Capitol Hill: The Carolina Theater”

  1. Amy Jones says:

    Fascinating–thanks very much for sharing this!

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