According to a January 2023 report on a local website the building has been vacant since 2019. A developer plans to convert the building to street level retail spaces and upper level offices. It’s also claimed that almost no original fabric remains due to multiple renovations.
The same story states that it became the Polainse in 1961. It did not account for its use between then and the theatre having closed in 1926.
As of December 2021 the building is for sale. The realtor has posted images which show the auditorium in an advanced state of decay. The are also images which suggest that part of the building was used as a church. Perhaps that was the old “Benn Dance Studio”?
[https://www.foxroach.com/ListingDetails/6322-WOODLAND-AVE-PHILADELPHIA-PA-19142/PAPH101273]
According to Hidden City Philadelphia the Poplar was demolished in late 2018. https://hiddencityphila.org/2018/12/lost-buildings-of-2018/ No mention in the most recent article about its 2012 renovation. https://hiddencityphila.org/2012/08/the-poplar-theatre/
I remember many kiddie double feature matinees at the old Benn. Standard format was a film, some cartoons, then a second film. When it was over, I would go to the payphone in the storage closet (the dial had a “Z” at “Operator”) to call my parents to pick me up. Then, the Benn was threadbare but clean. The upstairs bathrooms had a strange corridor arrangement that had me wordering if it had a balcony at one time. If it did it was renovated over long before my day.
I was last in there in the late 1980s when it was used as a warehouse. A metal roll gate opened where the screen had been. Then, the art deco paiting designs on the walls were still recognizable. Don’t know if it is still used for anything or still standing.
Demolished Fall 2015. It closed as a performance space about 2-3 years ago and the entrance doors were replaced by a metal roll gate. This past fall it was demolished for a residential tower. (My workplace shuttle van route frequently passes this area.)
According to a January 2023 report on a local website the building has been vacant since 2019. A developer plans to convert the building to street level retail spaces and upper level offices. It’s also claimed that almost no original fabric remains due to multiple renovations.
The same story states that it became the Polainse in 1961. It did not account for its use between then and the theatre having closed in 1926.
(https://www.brooklynpaper.com/polonaise-terrace-makeover-green-light-lpc/)
As of December 2021 the building is for sale. The realtor has posted images which show the auditorium in an advanced state of decay. The are also images which suggest that part of the building was used as a church. Perhaps that was the old “Benn Dance Studio”? [https://www.foxroach.com/ListingDetails/6322-WOODLAND-AVE-PHILADELPHIA-PA-19142/PAPH101273]
According to Hidden City Philadelphia the Poplar was demolished in late 2018. https://hiddencityphila.org/2018/12/lost-buildings-of-2018/ No mention in the most recent article about its 2012 renovation. https://hiddencityphila.org/2012/08/the-poplar-theatre/
I remember many kiddie double feature matinees at the old Benn. Standard format was a film, some cartoons, then a second film. When it was over, I would go to the payphone in the storage closet (the dial had a “Z” at “Operator”) to call my parents to pick me up. Then, the Benn was threadbare but clean. The upstairs bathrooms had a strange corridor arrangement that had me wordering if it had a balcony at one time. If it did it was renovated over long before my day.
I was last in there in the late 1980s when it was used as a warehouse. A metal roll gate opened where the screen had been. Then, the art deco paiting designs on the walls were still recognizable. Don’t know if it is still used for anything or still standing.
Demolished Fall 2015. It closed as a performance space about 2-3 years ago and the entrance doors were replaced by a metal roll gate. This past fall it was demolished for a residential tower. (My workplace shuttle van route frequently passes this area.)