Ohio Theatre
3114 LaGrange Street,
Toledo,
OH
43608
3114 LaGrange Street,
Toledo,
OH
43608
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2023 Update: The Ohio Theatre is now owned by Children’s Theatre Workshop, a nonprofit, 501c3 organization. CTW offers an inclusive environment for youth of all backgrounds, cultures, and lifestyles where they have the opportunity to study many aspects of theatre arts, develop valuable life skills, and produce quality plays.
CTW plans to renovate the theatre and is currently working with the historical society on their renovation plan.
The picture above is the Ohio Theatre at 3112 Lagrange. However it is an older picture and the buildings on either side of the Ohio Theatre have since been demolished. Also the theatre façade was struck by lightning and the prior owners were unable to finish the necessary repairs. Currently there is still scaffolding protecting the damaged part of the facade.
The Ohio Theatre is not currently an active movie house, though it can be rented for movie screenings. Children’s Theatre Workshop hold their plays and musicals at the theatre. And the Ohio Theatre is a welcoming and accessible venue for arts and cultural activities. More information including how to rent the theatre: http://historicohiotheatre.org/
Also doing film festivals.
An earlier comment by wcjfrisk says that the Ohio was the only theater designed by the firm of Stophlet & Stophlet, but this is mistaken. The Pantheon Theatre, opened two years earlier, was also their design.
This recent article in the Toledo Blade says that United North, the nonprofit organization that operates the Ohio Theatre and Event Center plans to begin showing first run art films and documentaries later this year. The Ohio, which broke even in 2013, will continue its various live events with movies worked into the schedule.
The article also contains some information about the difficulties art theaters have faced in Toledo in the past. Toledo itself has been without a dedicated art theater since the closing of the Southwyck Art Cinemas in 2001, and the nearest multiplex still showing such films on any of its screens is Cinemark’s Levis Commons 12 in the outlying town of Perrysburg.
Official website: http://www.ohiotheatretoledo.org/
February 26th, 1921 grand opening ad can now be found in this theatre’s opening section.
The architectural firm was a local one named Stophlet & Stophlet. The Ohio was the only theatre they designed. It is another stadium style built on a lot which is not square, so the stage and the lobby are triangular in shape with a very small wall on the short side.
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EvanC,
Any updates on The Ohio Theater in Toledo? From what I have read it appears the non-profit group that ran the theater sold it to a developer who is going to renovate the place then sell it back to them. Is this the case? Do you have a contact for the person who heads this non-profit group? Thanks for any info you can share.
Kind Regards,
stevepatrick
Evan;
This is Mike Young in San Diego. How did the Ohio Theater facade crisis turn out. Also… I notice on this list a few Toledo theaters are missing, but then maybe they don’t qualify: The 1909 (?) Opera House in the Collingwood Arts Center, the i925(?)Shakespeare Theater at the Toledo Zoo, the stunning 1933 Peristyle at the Toledo Museum of Art, the Franscian Art Center (Sylvania), and the Stranahan Center on Heatherdowns Boulevard.
The photo submitted by Chuck1231 is definitely NOT the Ohio Theatre in Toledo. As a Toledo resident and theatre historian, the theatre pictured is the old Hollywood Theatre on Stickney Avenue.
Update on Ohio Theatre: The facade is the only part of the building in question at this time. City inspection department ordered the front sidewalk barricaded as a precaution. Evaluation is underway to address all issues.
The earlier view of LaGrange & Central Avenues showing the Ohio Theatre’s original marquee dates from the 1920s—the building under construction was a bank—now serves as both a drugstore and coffee house.
The 1965 photo linked by Chuck1231 on March 23, 2006, doesn’t appear to be Toledo’s Ohio Theatre, which looked like this when it was running Elvis Presley’s 1967 movie, “Easy Come, Easy Go”. They’re obviously two different buildings, but I’ve been unable to find the location of Chuck1231’s Ohio Theatre.
Here’s another, earlier view of LaGrange Street and the Ohio Theatre.
I’ll work on that.
Here is another link:
http://tinyurl.com/gej3z
Toledo Area Theatre Organ Society – new location
http://www.theatreorgans.com/tatos/
Toledo Area Theatre Organ Society
http://www.geocities.com/toledotheatreorgan/