Variety Theater
1717 Beaver Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15233
1717 Beaver Avenue,
Pittsburgh,
PA
15233
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Additional Info
Previous Names: Windle's Variety Theater, Comique Theater, Cinemique Theater, New Variety Theater
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Located in the Manchester section of Pittsburgh’s North Side, a conversion of a livery stable. It opened in 1907 as Windle’s Variety Theater. It was known as the Comique (or Cinemique) from 1915-1917. It became the New Variety Theater from 1917 and Variety Theatre from 1918 until closing in 1929.
The property remained closed until March 1934 when it reopened as a bowling alley. It was closed in 1954 and razed for a strip mall and the connector from the Fort Duquesne Bridge to Routes 19 and 65.
Contributed by
Ed Blank
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Recent comments (view all 1 comments)
John and Thomas Windle launched Windle’s Variety Theater in 1907 at 1715-1719 Beaver Avenue in a converted livery. The theater was located in the Manchester neighborhood of Pittsburgh and featured live local talent and movies. The building had two small storefronts one of which was a long-standing barber shop. The other was a music store. John died while working at his Variety Theater on January 28, 1914. J. Walter Lowenhaupt and H.E. Grieder took on the venue on a sublease or lease renaming it as the Comique from 1915 to 1917 with a lean toward live entertainment. They dissolved the Comique Theater at the end of 1917 apparently in debt.
Mary Windle took on the venue enlarging it months later resuming as the New Variety Theater. The New Variety was purchased outright from the Windle estate for $39,000 in January of 1919. It switched primarily to feature length films. A connected confectionery served as the de facto concession stand. It appears to have closed in 1929 as the Variety not converting to sound. It became the Variety Bowling Alleys from March of 1934 to 1954 likely on a 20-year leasing agreement. During that leasing period, in 1944, the theater seats were sold off ending hopes of a theatrical encore.
Manchester and a segment of the Beaver Avenue Business District was targeted for urban renewal in 1951. The building was later demolished as part of the project that improved the highway that sliced Beaver Avenue in two and uprooted its former business district.