Broadway Theater
1325 Broadway Street,
Houston,
TX
77012
1325 Broadway Street,
Houston,
TX
77012
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Interstate Theatres Inc. & Texas Consolidated Theaters Inc.
Architects: Walter W. Cook, H. F. Pettigrew
Firms: Pettigrew, Cook & Associates
Styles: Art Deco
Nearby Theaters
The Broadway Theater was very similar to the Santa Rosa Theater located on Broadway Street, a few blocks north of Milby High School. The Broadway Theater was opened on May 23, 1947. It was a neighborhood institution until its closure in 1972 when the multicinemas and an aborted highway project did it in.
Contributed by
Robert Seeberger
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
Thank you, CSWalczak! I wonder if any of you folks who post here regularly[Lostmemory, sepitone, chuck1231, TL SLOWES] are from the Greater Houston, Tx area?
Thanks to you folks, I have also just discoverd Flicker and all the possibilities provided there for taking me back down memory lane!
I realize that one might be reluctant to post an email address here, but if would, I would love to contact you regarding the old theaters, school buildings and other Houston area pictures.
Thanks,
Jeff in Texas
JeffinTX; I live in Saint Louis, MO. As far as I know, none of the folks you cite live in the Houston area but I could be wrong. I was only in Houston once, in 2005.
I am reluctant to post my email here as I had a real problem with spam some years ago, but I have a public profile on LinkedIn (I am the Christopher Walczak in Saint Louis) and if you set up a LinkedIn profile, you can ask to be connected to me.
No problem, I totally understand. As I have started to get the hang of this site, I realize I can just bookmark and suscribe to the site and I will be able to correspond with interested folks. Thanks for your help and info. Jeff
I spent a lot of time in and around this theatre. I attended JR Harris Elementary, around 4 blocks from there, Deady Jr. High, around 8 blocks from there and Milby High, around 2 blocks from there. I don’t remember what year it was demolished but I do remember one of the last shows I watched there was Patton. Wow, wish I had pictures. I was in ROTC at Milby and we practiced precision drill in the parking lot behind the theatre. I remember way back watching Roy Rodgers on Saturday morning mattinees, Elvis movies, Dracula even the movie where Doris Day sang “Que Sera, Sera”. Nothing there now but an end of a freeway that got caught up in politics and was never finished. Hope someone can come up with more pictures.
I had great memories of this theater where I’d spend Saturday afternoons watching movies. One of the times I was there watching a movie, I’d long forgot about, but I do remember the large poster of a movie of “BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S" was about to be released. The last time I was in this theater was 1969 and how much smaller the lobby was than I remembered. Thanks to the person who posted the photo of the Broadway. I ennjoyed viewing it.
I worked there for several years just before it closed as an usher. It was my first job and paid $1.00 an hour. Behind the screen there were dressing rooms. I believe it closed in the early 70s to make room for a freeway.
@Michael4906. I do remember it sitting vacant for a while. Closed to make way for the Harrisburg freeway that never came to be. It was to connect the east loop to downtown Houston.
I had first thought that the Broadway Theatre had been designed by Pettigrew & Worley, but the house was featured in an add for the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company in the March 5, 1949, issue of Boxoffice, and the text attributed the Broadway to Pettigrew, Cook & Associates.
Digging a bit more I found that John Worley had gone into the army in 1941. After the war he returned to the partnership, which had originally been formed in 1937. It appears that while Worley was away, Pettigrew had teamed up with an architect named Walter W. Cook. So far this house is the only one I’ve found that Pettigrew and Cook designed. I’ve been unable to find anything else about Walter W. Cook, though there was an architect of that name who had been active in the 1920s, but not in Texas. Perhaps he came out of retirement for the duration of the war.
I was a usher at the Broadway theater in the 70’s til just before it closed. Behind the screen there were dressing rooms, which were no longer in use.
Opened on May 23rd, 1947 and closed 1972 (Per Cinema Houston). Grand opening ad posted.