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Intro

The "Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse", located at 2903 Columbia Pike, is the only remaining theater in Arlington County, Virginia from the cinema boom period of the 1930s and 1940s that still operates as a movie theater, and is currently one of four movie theaters operating in Arlington County. It is one of Arlington County's 23 Historic properties identified in the highest category of Essential — those with the greatest historical, architectural or visual prominence in the community.

History

Originally, it was called the "Arlington Theater" and was incorporated into "The Arlington Recreation Center", which was opened on August 15, 1940. The building was commissioned by Dr. Charles P. Munson in 1939 and built by A.H. Brooks. The Center also featured a large 24 lane bowling alley on the second & third floors, some department stores, and a pharmacy on the corner.

After Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, in the 1930s, and the establishment of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) in 1934 during the era of the Great Depression, there was an population boom in the suburbs surrounding Washington D.C. The neighborhoods of Arlington, in particular, experienced an economic revival. The creation of new federal jobs in DC and the improved conditions for homebuyers allowed many new residents to settle in the area. The construction of the "Arlington Theater" marked

Construction of the theater required the demolition of a general store known as M. Sher & Sons General Merchandise, originally called C.F. Burner’s Emporium (established 1904), which was owned by Munson's family. Dr. Munson, a local dentist, spent his retirement years actively buying land and building houses and commercial structures, including the "Arlington Theater" and Dorchester Towers. He contributed to platting and subdividing many properties in what is now known as the historic “Arlington Heights” district of Arlington, Virginia.

The Theater first opened with Cary Grant in the film “My Favourite Wife”. Tickets for the show were 25 cents in 1940. You could get popcorn for 10 cents.

The theater desegregated in 1963 amidst picketing and lawsuits.

The “Arlington Theater” was operated under Neighborhood Theaters Inc. (NTI). Which was owned by The Thalhimers Family (Which later merged with Hecht’s and is now part of Macy’s). NTI turned the property over to Tom Saris (or Sarris) in 1975 after some financial difficulties.

in 1985 the theater was acquired by Tony Fischer converted and reopened as the "Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse", but kept the same historic façade. The bowling alleys are now a tae-kwon-do school and artists' studios.

Architecture

The Architect, Fred Bishop, was responsible for the design. Bishop designed seven theaters in Virginia and one in North Carolina throughout the 1920s -40s. Only three theatres designed by Bishop are still standing. Besides the “Drafthouse”, the others are the “Byrd Theatre” in Richmond and the “Beacon Theatre” in Hopewell, VA.

It was an Art Deco movie theater and it had a capacity for 616 seats. The Theater used 35mm projectors, Simplex E-7’s, with Magnarc Carbon Arc lamphouses.

currently seats 275 with the drafthouse and restaurant setup.

"The exterior design is consistent with the Art Deco style with the façade entirely of brick painted white and light mauve. This is consistent with early photos showing a white or light-colored building. It is a simple design, with little architectural embellishment. Emphasis can be seen on several vertical elements, with subtle stepped forms, above the main entrance on Columbia Pike and the side entrance on South Walter Reed Drive. The corner of the building at the intersection is rounded, with vertical strips extending up the second and third stories. The left side of the South Walter Reed Drive entrance is also rounded at the first floor only. The main entrance is about 20 feet across with a vertical projection above the entrance area extending slightly past the third story height. The layers of the façade projection are fairly shallow, but distinguished with light mauve paint. The center of the main projection features a vertical blue sign above the entrance and marquee reading “Arlington” in Deco-style neon lighting. On either side of the vertical sign are flat black panels about 1 foot wide and 20 feet high. At the top of the central projection, the brick façade has 6 notches on either side of the center line. At street level, the entrance is recessed about 10 feet with two pairs of glass doors under a marquee sign with traditional hand-placed black lettering."

"The brick façade overhead has 5 vertical strips on either side extending up the second and third stories. On the east side, the curved corner at the intersection is set off by a large curved window on the first floor and five vertical zigzag notches extending up the second and third stories, painted in mauve. There are five narrow horizontal glass block windows on the first story that appear to be original. An original architect’s rendering appears to show fourteen large and seven small windows on the east side in glass block, appropriate to the Art Deco style. The second and third stories now have just six modern replacement windows on each story, the seventh window in each row (closest to the side entrance) used as a vent screen. The corner retail shop at the street level has five large windows, including the curved corner window, two on the east side and two on the south side. The entire east side of the building, with the exception of the minor side entrance vertical projection, is painted off-white. There are three mauve diamond-shaped flat decorative elements on the east façade between the second and third story row of windows. It is unclear if these are original. The lower half of each diamond appears to have been removed, leaving the outline of the complete element. The minor side entrance on South Walter Reed Drive is at the end of the building immediately before it steps down to a one-story height for three retail shops. This entrance provides access to the artists’ studios on the second floor and the tae kwon do studio on the third floor, both housed in the former bowling alley space. The side entrance is similar in appearance to the major entrance projection, with similar proportions and elements but on a narrower scale. The vertical projection extends up the façade through the second and third stories. The center strip and two flanking strips are painted in rose, with intermediate white strips. There is no vertical sign for this entrance, only a modern horizontal sign over the doorway with two pairs of glass doors. The vertical flanking strips have two narrow vertical modern replacement windows on both sides, in a similar orientation as the flat black panels on the main entrance façade."

Preservation