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Ohio Theatre

Style
Neoclassical
City
Toledo, OH
Ohio Theatre
Photo: Ohio Office of Redevelopment, CC BY 2.0
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Built in 1921 on Lagrange Street, the Ohio Theatre is Toledo's last operating neighborhood theatre. This three-story brick and stone masonry building comprises 8,000 square feet and sits at the center of the city's Polish International Village, a neighborhood that has held Toledo's largest concentration of people of Polish ancestry for over 130 years. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

the building

Stadium seating and the projectors. The theatre retains its original Mighty 90 carbon arc 35mm movie projectors and features stadium seating, equipment that has carried the building from vaudeville and silent films through movies, serials, and performing arts.

The Marr and Colton organ. The theatre houses a Marr and Colton pipe organ that was originally installed in the now-razed Rivoli Theatre in downtown Toledo, preserving an instrument from a lost downtown venue.

The thrust stage. A 40-by-60-foot thrust stage with a 10-by-20-foot orchestra platform allows the theatre to host live performing arts alongside its film program.

the style

The theatre is identified as Neoclassical architecture, a style whose formal, symmetrical facades were commonly used to give neighborhood movie houses of this era a sense of civic dignity.

More on Neoclassical

significance

The Ohio Theatre was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006 and stands today as Toledo's last operating neighborhood theatre, described as a source of entertainment for area residents for generations and a defining asset of the Lagrange Street business district.

nearby

All 19 buildings in Toledo