Fine Arts Theatre
704 South Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14620
704 South Avenue,
Rochester,
NY
14620
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The Princess Theatre opened in 1912 and transformed to sound in October 1927. Unfortunately, a fire ended its run in December of 1927. Architect Leander McCord drew a plan to revive the theatre for owner Morris Fogel launching in October of 1928 under the nameplate of the Rexy Theatre.
The theatre struggled in the TV age closing briefly in 1953. It was repositioned and retitled as the Rexy Art Theatre launching on March 21, 1953. The Rexy Art Theatre closed with “The Browning Version” on July 30, 1953 after just three months.
After being dormant for four years, the theatre got one more chance at exhibition being renamed the Fine Arts Theatre and launching April 24, 1958 with “The Three Faces of Eve”. During April of 1975, the art cinema turned X and XXX adult theatre. In September of 1976, the theatre’s 64 year run appears to end. The theatre was repurposed for other retail ventures.
April 24th, 1958 grand opening ad as Fine Arts in photo section.
In the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915, the Princess Theatre is listed at 702 South Street.
Given its location, the Fine Arts Theatre might be the house that was mentioned in the July 20, 1912, issue of Motography:
Frank I. Simpson was mentioned as operator of the Princess Theatre at Rochester in the October 25, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World. We don’t have a Princess Theatre listed yet, and the side walls of the building the Fine Arts was in look old enough to have been built in the early 1910s. It’s quite possible that this house opened in 1912 as the Princess Theatre.It was run by JoMor. Showed a lot of ‘art’ films as well as mainstream. JoMor abandoned it when they started building more suburban theatres.