State Theatre
453 N. Liberty Street,
Winston-Salem,
NC
27101
453 N. Liberty Street,
Winston-Salem,
NC
27101
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 9 comments
Once operated by North Carolina Theatres.
Closed December 13th, 1952. State theatre closing 14 Dec 1952, Sun Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) Newspapers.com
April 20th, 1930 grand opening ad:
State theatre reopening 20 Apr 1930, Sun Winston-Salem Journal (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) Newspapers.com
The Auditorium Theatre opened January 28th, 1918. Reopened as the State Theatre April 21st, 1930.
I recently looked at this location and investigated old pictures. This parking deck seems to have been built on sites which contained the State (to the north) and Colonial Theaters(and all the stores in between).
I guess it to was torn down for a parking Lot.
The lettering “AUDITORIUM” on the facade was in the ancient Roman style, where the U would look like a V. That made an impression on me as a child: it confused me, so I would always look up when I passed the building.
The book “Winston-Salem in Vintage Postcards,” by Molly Grogan Rawls, says that the Auditorium Theatre was built on the site of the Elks Auditorium after the old theater burned down on April 27, 1916.
The Auditorium Theater was later known as State Theater. After the State closed it was a furniture store called State Furniture. For some reason I was in there once, and I remember the furniture being displayed on the downward slope of the former orchestra-level floor. I wish I could have seen a movie there but the theater must have closed when I was a child.