Strand Theatre

200 E. Twiggs Street,
Tampa, FL 33601

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Florida State Theaters Inc., Paramount-Lasky

Firms: Kemp, Bunch & Jackson

Styles: Atmospheric, Spanish Colonial

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News About This Theater

Jun 27, 2005 — Tampa's Strand Theater Redevelopment Update

Built in the Spanish Colonial style, the Strand Theatre opened October 16, 1915 with Anita Stewart in “The Juggernaught”. It was hailed as “the most beautiful theatre in the South”. The Strand Theatre featured air-cooling (not air-conditioning mind you!), twinkling stars in the ceiling and clouds that passed over the ceiling. In October 1929 it was taken over by Paramount-Lasky. The nearby Tampa Theatre had opened in 1926 with air conditioning and the Strand Theatre couldn’t compete, eventually closing in 1931. It was reopened by Florida State Theatres on October 23, 1942. Architectural firm Kemp, Bunch & Jackson did some remodelling work on the Strand Theatre in 1947, and finally stopped it’s run as a theatre in the late-1940’s.

The Strand Theatre was absorbed into the Maas Brothers Department store building on that block in the late-1940s and was used for their women’s department. The Strand Theatre portion of the block was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the late-1970’s; roughly the same time as the Tampa Theatre. Maas Brothers was absorbed into the Federated Department Store chain in the 1980s and closed this location in 1991.

The whole block including the Strand Theatre was not well maintained afterward and sold in 1998 to an investor who has not maintained it since, resulting in it’s condemnation in 2000. Plans were for the city to demolish it as the owner cannot afford to, but plans for that moved very slowly, but it eventually happened.

Contributed by Todd Frary

Recent comments (view all 33 comments)

Richard Wheeler on October 18, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Thanks for the additional details, Nick. I should have done more exploring during those lunch visits, but I guess you never fully appreciate something until it’s gone.

I was looking at a 1955 high school yearbook, and there was an ad from the “Florida State Theaters”. It listed the Tampa, Palace, Florida, Seminole, Garden, Springs, and Hillsboro Drive-In theatres. The ad used the spelling “Theaters”, not “Theatres” in the company title, but this was probably an error by the yearbook staff.

Yes, I wish they could have preserved the facade. What a shame.

AndyCallahanMajorMajor on October 19, 2010 at 7:07 pm

I remember seeing a bunch of pictures of the Maas Brothers interior, including the Strand portion. They disappeared from Flickr for whatever reason, and I never thought to look for any theater-y details.

Mike Rogers on May 7, 2011 at 10:36 am

Thanks guys enjoy the stories.

Richard Wheeler on August 2, 2011 at 6:17 am

This photo was listed on eBay as “Interior Strand Theatre 1920s”. It’s hard to read writing on photo, it doesn’t seem to say “Strand”.

AndyCallahanMajorMajor on August 2, 2011 at 3:09 pm

It looks like “Strand” to me. Cool find!

Nick DiMaggio on August 3, 2011 at 6:08 am

Wow! Fantastic interior photo. This had to have been taken about the time when the theatre first opened. Later shots show a slighlty more modern look with curtains within the proscenium. Thanks for posting!