Embassy Theater

415 E. Baltimore Street,
Baltimore, MD 21202

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Additional Info

Architects: Alfred Lowther Forrest, Edward H. Glidden, William Harold Lee

Functions: Retail

Previous Names: Victoria Theater

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Embassy Theater

Opened December 28, 1908 as the Victoria Theater, used mainly for vaudeville, but films were part of the program from the beginning. It was designed by London UK born architect Alfred Arthur Forrest. It was remodeled to the plans of architect Edward H. Glidden in 1916. The Victoria Theater was partialy destroyed by a fire on March 25, 1922. The theatre was renovated and reopened on November 25, 1922.

The theater was renovated and remodeled to the plans of architect William Harold Lee and re-opened on February 28, 1926 as the Embassy Theater, screening Lon Chaney in “Phantom of the Opera”. It had been equipped with a Wurlitzer Hope-Jones 2 manual 8 ranks organ which was opened by organist Louis Jackobson. It was then used as a movie theater until it closed in 1951.

The auditorium has been demolished to be replaced by a parking garage. The front of the building and foyer were concerted into a Burger restaurant and later a show bar. It remains today in retail use.

Contributed by Lost Memory

Recent comments (view all 4 comments)

spectrum
spectrum on November 15, 2010 at 4:35 am

The lobby portion of the building stands but the auditorium was demolished for “what else?” – a parking lot some years ago.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 28, 2014 at 1:00 am

The January 8, 1910, issue of The Moving Picture World featured this brief article about the Victoria Theatre:

“PEARCE & SCHECK’S VICTORIA THEATER, BALTIMORE, MD.

“From an artistic standpoint the Victoria Theater is one of the handsomest theaters in the country. There are two floors — main floor and balcony — filled with comfortable chairs and eight beautifully decorated boxes. It is of unusually solid construction and elaborately adorned both inside and out. On the top of the building sits an enormous plaster figure that easily attracts the glance of the passerby. The auditorium and stage are fitted up with many modern conveniences. The decorations of both exterior and interior are handsome, the scheme being terra-cotta and dark green. Much additional beauty is procured by the lavish use of hundreds of electric lights. The house was designed by A. Lowther Forrest, architect. It is very commodious, having a seating capacity of 1,500, and is equipped with an unusually large stage. Mass & Co. were the builders and Henry L. Arntz was the decorator.”

London-born architect Alfred Lowther Forrest (1861-1951) designed more than a dozen theaters, most of them in Baltimore.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on May 28, 2014 at 1:05 am

Robert Kirk Headley’s Motion Picture Exhibition in Baltimore : An Illustrated History and Directory of Theaters, 1895-2004 says that Alfred Lowther Forrest was both the original architect of the Victoria Theatre in 1908 and the architect for its rebuilding in 1922.

rivest266
rivest266 on January 29, 2017 at 11:01 pm

This opened on December 28th, 1908.

Article

Found on Newspapers.com

Grand opening ad in the photo section.

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