Avon Theatre
435 S. Main Street,
Rochester,
MI
48307
435 S. Main Street,
Rochester,
MI
48307
1 person
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Additional Info
Architects: Lavern R. Bennett, Eugene D. Straight
Firms: Bennett & Straight
Functions: Retail
Previous Names: Idle Hour Theatre
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This house opened in February, 1914, as the Idle Hour Theatre. Originally seating 400, it was remodeled and expanded to 500 seats in 1936, with an Art Deco façade designed by Dearborn architects Bennett & Straight. At this time it was renamed the Avon Theatre.
The Avon Theatre was Rochester’s only movie house until the opening of the Hills Theatre across the street in 1942. After that the Avon Theatre operated as the town’s “B” house until closing in 1954. As the building was being remodeled to accommodate a retail store in 1955, the Art Deco front collapsed. The rest of the building survived and is still standing, used as retail space, but it is no longer recognizable as a former theatre.
Contributed by
Joe Vogel
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Click on the “Slideshow” link on this web page to see one modern and one vintage photo of the Avon Theatre building.
From the book “Remembering Rochester: Main Street Stories, published in 2011:
“It may not stand out today, but for the first forty years of its history, the building at 435 S. Main Street was a theater and entertainment center in downtown Rochester. In October 1913, the Rochester Clarion announced that James W. Smith, owner of the Hotel St. James at 439 S. Main, had purchased property adjoining his hotel to the south in order to build a new theater. Smith promised that construction would be rushed on the new building, which would be "up-to-the-minute in every particular.”
True to his promise, Smith opened the New Idle Hour Theatre under the management of Oscar Price in February, 1914. The Era told its readers that the new moving picture house was “of white brick with steel ceiling and sidewalls, concrete floors, asbestos operating booth, perfect ventilation, steam heat, and…absolutely fireproof.” It was described as seating 400 patrons, and boasted an 18 foot stage with a depth of 16 feet, suitable for live performances as well as film screenings. The premiere of the new house offered a live performance by the Rochester Comedy Company, entitled True Irish Hearts.
The following year, Edward J. Cole took over the Idle Hour, and eventually the operation of the theater passed to Charles L. Sterns, who renamed it the Avon Theatre in 1936. The Avon was Rochester’s only movie theater until 1942, when Sterns opened the Hills Theatre across the street. The larger Hills became the town’s first-run house, and the Avon presented second-run titles and serials.
The Avon Theatre closed in the early 1950s, and the building was sold to the owners of Oberg Electric and Appliance. While the Obergs were in the process of remodeling the building in May 1955, the facade of the building peeled off and crashed to the sidewalk when a steel beam across the front of the building collapsed. Nobody was hurt in the mishap, but it brought an abrupt end to the Art Deco face of the building. Oberg Electric occupied the building for about a decade, and it was home to Michigan Chandelier, another electric supplier, until the mid-1980s. A number of retailers have come and gone since then; among the recent ones were the Varsity Shop, the Body Tonic Spa and the current occupant, the Who UR Resale for a Cause."