Clinton Theatre
3379 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43214
3379 N. High Street,
Columbus,
OH
43214
4 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 49 of 49 comments
View link
lots of info about the history of the clinton.
Thanks for the pics. I’ve never seen any pictures of the interior. A shame this theater cant be saved!
great photos of the clinton
http://clintontheater.blogspot.com/
Does anyone still live in that little house next to the theater? i forgot it was even back there. You can see the roof if you are far enough away from the street. It’s behind some small buildings next to the theater…….
This is sad news. I always hoped that someone would take over the theatre to repurpose it in any way, especially in a neighborhood as neat as Clintonville.
It seems the Clinton’s status will be demolished very soon. There was a news story that the whole block will be coming down (including the theater) I was hoping they would just tear down Clintonville Electric. It’s too bad they couldnt save the theater somehow. It’s sat there vacant for decades. Parking Is a problem there though. Greedy landlords……..
To follow up on retroguy’s post about a car hitting the Clinton, The Columbus Dispatch reported on 6/2/2010 that the owners of the building had been ordered in April, 2010 to fix the “deteriorating buildings at 3367 – 3383 N. High St.” The owner would face a fine of $250 per day starting on August 1, 2010. This week, the city inspectors ordered the owner to hire an engineer to check structural integrity. The building must also be kept secure. Some preservationists would like to save the Clinton Theater building, but the buildings are graffiti covered and deteriorated.
I don’t think this theatre is going to have a very happy ending.
a car hit the clinton last night.
Retroguy,
What board did you pull that post about the Clintonville Electric/Clinton Theatre information?
on a better note you can buy Clinton Theater 2010 Calendars $5
View link
nice pic of the theater at the bottom of the page.
another post
View link
“Unfortunately everything stated about the condition is true, and there’s an asbestos issue as well. Plus, I guess zoning codes would require a certain amount of parking for the theater that would require building a parking garage, since there isn’t enough surface parking around. Our estimates were in the $5 million range.”
here are some post from another board about the clinton.
“ About two years ago a friend of mine, my wife and I went and looked at the property. At the time Ohio Equities was selling the property for 1.4 million
dollars which included the theater, the Clintonville Electric building, the parking lot next to the Clintonville Electric building and weirdly a single family house behind the Clintonville electric building on Brighton. To be exact the property is 186 feet of frontage on High St with a total of 26K sq. feet. There is one hitch in that I believe there is one store in that Clintoville Electric building that is owned by someone else and was not for sale at the time.
When we walked through the theater it was already not in very good shape. The theater had a leaky roof that was allowing water to pool up in the projector room. The theater had been used most recently as a warehouse for Clintonville Electric. As I remember the floor of the theater (where the seats would have been) had been leveled with concrete and the walls and interior in general felt like someone had stripped the place of anything interesting.
i also read that the facade has been saved and cannot be torn down.
Sold.
asking price for this property…….about 1 million dollars. you get the theater, clintonville electric and a house.
Here is a photo circa late thirties or early forties:
http://tinyurl.com/nao72q
I live in a house built by J. Real Neth on the Hilltop in Columbus. He owned the J. Real Neth theater chain. I am hungry for more info on him, his career and family. Hoping to connect with an ancestor or someone with knowledge of this interesting man
The Winemaker’s Shop did move, or was in the process of moving, around the same time I took the shot linked above. The two shops beside the entrance to the theatre share the same building, but are technically not part of the theatre and would therefore have separate addresses (the Grandview Theatre in Grandview Heights, OH is another example of this).
No, I was looking at the Google photo which was copyrighted in 2008. Perhaps the wine store moved recently. Clintonville Electric is at 3367 N. High, which is next to the theater, so I think 3379 N. High is correct.
There is a wine store in the lobby. Function should be retail.
A photo of the Clinton Theatre can be seen here: View link Last I saw the building was for sale, I was tempted to call and feign interest in buying it so that I could get a look inside, but I chickened out.
That’s too bad. I never saw the theater when it was open, its been closed for decades. Wasnt there an Arthur Murray Dance studio in the bldg. for many years? I dont know if it was in the theater itself or not. The area is ripe for redevelopment and there isnt a theater nearby for miles………
Development of the block has fallen through. The appliance store has moved away, as have some of the other tenants. No news on what is going to happen there has been released in some time.
The Clinton was designed by Harry Holbrook, in the Art Deco style, and had a capacity of 1500 seats. It was built by William James as part of a local chain of first run and neighborhood houses, became part of the local J. Real Neth chain in November 1927. It was sold to the Academy Theatres group in 1958, and closed in 1973, becoming a warehouse for an appliance dealer, who removed the seats and leveled the floor. Although there is some water damage, the interior decoration is mostly intact.