Brookland Theatre
115 W. Brookland Park Boulevard,
Richmond,
VA
23222
115 W. Brookland Park Boulevard,
Richmond,
VA
23222
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The Brookland theatre opened on January 29th, 1925 and closed in 1957.
It reopened on August 22nd, 1969, as the Brookland adult theatre and closed in 1984.
Grand opening ads posted.
Would cmastersin please contact me about Brookland Theater Organ Pictures at ? Thank you!
The 3/9 Wurlitzer has been moved to New Jersey and hopefully will be restored. I was privileged to assist in the move of the instrument and meet the owner of the private residence where the organ had been stored since the late 1960s. The current owner of the organ would like to see it re-installed in its original location.
The permit for the Brookland Theatre was issued in 1924. It was designed by architect Fred A. Bishop.
Good news! There is interest in getting the Brookland Theatre open again. A large group turned out Tuesday night to discuss its future. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Brookland-Theatre/425747544145043
if you have loose available, you also could consider helping the Byrd Theater foundation. Just a thought
I am told that the theater owner is not the same person as the Wurlitzer organ owner, just to clear up the matter
The current owner for the property can be found through public records (which I was able to do easily, and although I was tempted to post the information, I am honoring zmaster’s previous post). I’m wondering if the Wurlitzer owner mentioned in zmaster’s post is the same as the owner of the building (since the current property owner also happens to live in spitting distance of the old theater, so to speak).
Here is a picture found in public records, although I do not know how recent it is.
If the Wurlitzer owner is the same as the Brookland Theater owner, and if he is indeed in the winter of his life, there is a slim to none chance he will consider selling the Brookland Theater and it will most likely be bequeathed to a surviving relative… which is a shame because there are those of us with the funding power who would love to see this place restored.
The original 3-9 Wurlitzer lays disassembled in an unfinished theater room at a private residence within spitting distance so to speak, of the Brookland! The owner of the organ, is rather well known around here, but he has grown ill in his older years, and likely will never finish the project. I visited him last fall, and have about sixty pictures of the organ. It’s apart, right in the room he personally built on his home, specifically intended for it, that has chambers, swell shade openings, etc.that he himself made, when he built the house, many years ago.The Wurlitzer presently lacks its toy counter and remote piano, but is otherwise complete.It was moved early in it’s life to a Church on Broad Street, right on Theater Row, which later was demolished, along with MOST of Theater Row; in the name of “urban renewal” He saved the organ and personally disassembled it and moved it to his home.He was a wholesale jewelry/ watch reapairman with a shop, for many a year, next door to the Byrd Theater, on Cary Street. In the day, he helped maintain the Byrd’s 4-17 Wurlitzer, which, incidentally still plays EVERY Saturday night, with it’s original relay, as it has for about 83 years! I know, because, being 59 and widowed, my Saturday night fun is usually going to the Byrd, and hanging out in the projection room with Bill and the house organist, Bob Gulledge, before the show. I contribute whatever I can, to the survival of the original installation “Mighty Wurlitzer”, at the Byrd. Now, that 3-9; from the Brookland, needs to be re-leathered, cleaned, refinished, and assembled, in order to speak again. Sad it could not return to the Brookland, but its so highly doubtful, that theatre will EVER re-open, I just wish he would DONATE it to a movie palace in need of a theater organ, so it may be enjoyed again. I have kept his name confidential, although everybody in the industry around here, knows exactly of whom I speak, as so he will not be disturbed unduly, in the winter of his life. He’s a wonderful man, and has so much knowledge that will go with him, when it’s his time,to go to Heaven. When I visited him, his knowledge, skills, and passion for theater organs awe struck me, and has earned my respect, and remembrance, for as long as I live.
Good for you. You are okay in my book. I know its trespassing,and i would never do it to closed up Circuit City, But movie theatres,I have been real lucky to find an exit door open.
I did walk around the building—it’s locked up tight!
Joe find an exit door and squeeze in and explore. I do it whenever I find a theatre.I know you wrote this in 2008,so hopefully you have gone on and EXPORED.
Is it still there now.
I stopped by this theater yesterday. The vertical and marquee are still there. The box office and poster cases evident in the photo above from the 1930’s have been bricked over, but otherwise the theater looks exactly the same. The doors have black fabric on the inside so you can’t see in. I’d love to see the inside of this little gem!
Does anyone know who owns the building now?
I went to this theater today to check out the current condition.It was REALLY locked up TIGHT.Continues to be in very good condition,probably due to being built like the proverbial brick outhouse.The neighborhood is in flux,but continues to be a bastion of middle class blacks who haven’t totally fled to the suburbs.The business district it crowns has some very attractive buildings and begs to become a artsy area of funky shops and eateries,with the theater as the focus.I wish a guy like Tim Reid and his lovely wife could get involved.Anyone remember “FRANK’S PLACE”?
The Brookland was the first theater built in Richmond to serve people who lived in nearby neighborhoods. It had 634 seats. While it closed about 1957, it reopened briefly in the early 1960s. An ad in the July 6, 1963 Richmond Times-Dispatch showed the Brookland was open at that time.
The building is still standing and appears to be in reasonably good condition.