Lafayette Theatre
112 W. Main Street,
Charlottesville,
VA
22902
112 W. Main Street,
Charlottesville,
VA
22902
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Not sure why it says that UVA is on the site now. It’s an arcade/mall, as Joe pointed out years ago.
Closed July 4th, 1959 for an retail store.
Lafayette theatre closing 28 Dec 1959, Mon The Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia) Newspapers.com
The Architecture of Jefferson Country: Charlottesville and Albemarle County, Virginia, by K. Edward Lay, says that the Lafayette Theatre was built in 1921, specifically as a movie house. The book gives no details about it.
An article about the Jefferson Theatre mentioned that the Lafayette Theatre was on the site now occupied by a shopping arcade called York Place, which is at 112 W. Main Street, so that was probably the theater’s address as well.
A slightly better view of the Lafayette Theatre can be seen in this 1952 photo from The Charlottesville Dogwood Festival, by Elizabeth D. Wood Smith.
Judging from the second photo on this page of Charlottesville, by Eryn S. Brennan and Margaret Maliszewski, the Lafayette Theatre must have been in the 100 block of West Main Street, on the south side. The Paramount’s vertical sign can be seen down the street, on the north side of the 200 East block.