Criterion Theater
318 Ninth Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20004
318 Ninth Street NW,
Washington,
DC
20004
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The Criterion Theatre was built inside an existing four-story brick building to the plans of architect Frank G. Pierson and was opened on July 15, 1918. It had a corner entrance at the south-west corner of Ninth Street NW and D Street NW. which was decorated in black marble. Seating was provided for 250-seats in the orchestra and a 100-seat balcony. It was closed in 1945.
Contributed by
Jflundy
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Here are two photos from January 1921.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/4107?size=_original
http://www.shorpy.com/node/4102?size=_original
Cinematour shows the theater as demolished, but no date. I’d be curious to know if this building is still around.
Nope.
The enclosed photos place the Criterion at the SW corner of 9th & D Streets NW. A 1949 aerial photo shows D st going from 9th to 10th street.. 1979 and newer photos show the J. Edgar Hoover Building closed the street.
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9th street is the N/S center of the map/photo, Pennsylvania Av in the diagonal.
The theatre had an even numbere address thus would have been on the West side of 9th Street.. the Taylor shop in the background of one photo has an odd address on D street, North Side. The address of 318 places the theatre between C st and D street
According to Robert Headley, this theatre existed between 1918 and 1945, seated between 350 and 600, and was demolished before 1950.
Here is an excerpt from a Washington Post article dated 11/28/20:
CRITERION THEATER SOLD
Sale of the Criterion Motion Picture Theater at the southeast corner of Ninth and D streets to Marcus Notes was reported during the past week. The transaction, which was effected through the office of Thomas J. Fisher & Co., is said to have involved a consideration of approximately $100,000.
Cool 1921 photos.
Opened or placed its first ad on July 15th, 1918 and last mentioned in 1930.