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MAR-VA THEATER

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1927; 1937 interior renovated. 103 Market St.
  • (Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie)

Frank Bartlett, owner of Berlin’s Globe Theater (c. 1917; 12 Broad Street, now a restaurant), purchased several lots on Market Street after the 1922 fire. Originally opened as a vaudeville and silent movie theater in 1927, the Mar-Va began showing talkies in the 1930s, around the same time it received an extensive Art Deco interior renovation. The theater was designed for racially segregated seating in the balcony including a separate entrance for Black patrons on the north end of the facade, and separate ticket booth, lavatory, and later concession stand on the upper floor. The theater closed in 1993, failing into disrepair. Purchased by a community group in 2003, the theater was renovated and reopened as a performing arts center and movie theater in 2009, making it with Church Hill Theatre (ES38) one of the few surviving and functioning historic theaters on the Eastern Shore.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie
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Data

What's Nearby

DELMARVA DISCOVERY CENTER (DUNCAN BROTHERS GARAGE)
COSTEN HOUSE
GLEBE HOUSE

Citation

Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie, "MAR-VA THEATER", [, Maryland], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MD-01-ES90.

Print Source

Buildings of Maryland, Lisa Pfueller Davidson and Catherine C. Lavoie. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2022, 142-142.

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