It’s hard to believe it, but I first photographed the former Plaza Theater way back in April of 2009, when we were first starting to explore the West End and points to the north, such as Hamilton Heights and Wells-Goodfellow by heading up Clara Avenue. Today, it’s the Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, which has occupied the building now for quite a long time.
But it was originally built in 1910 as the Plaza Theater, with a seating capacity, according to various sources, between 500 and 735. The theater was built by the Plaza Amusement Company, whose offices were in the Wainwright Building. Famed brewery architects Weismann and Walsh, also in the Wainwright Building, designed the theater, while the general contractor was Kellerman Contracting Co, 510 Pine Street. It cost $23,000 to erect. At some point, the theater closed and a synagogue, Bais Yaakov Shul, moved in; I have had little luck finding out much about this congregation. It reopened in 1947 as a movie theater again operated by Wehrenberg but closed again in 1956. It may have become a church at that point.
The area around the theater-turned-church ranges from well-maintained two-families, as seen above along Montclair Avenue, to abandoned buildings, as seen below.
But just look at that finial below!
Beautifully kept houses sit right next to abandoned four-families.
This old theater reminds me of the Virginia in dutchtown!
I’m not overly religious, but I think it’s good for people to practice a belief for the greater good, have a sense of morals / purpose, etc. It appears that when there’s an active congregation in a neighborhood, the area around it seems to fair better than not. There’s a sense of community combating the hopelessness and despair of an otherwise “God-less” neighborhood. I’ll get off my soap box here, but my childhood church just recently closed, and now I worry for the future of that neighborhood. It certainly can’t be a good inspiring thing, or something to look forward to. It means the congregation who has cared for, and gave back to the community has dwindled. And who is left may choose to join the crowd and move on themselves without their church / community center. Pockets of North city seemed more viable when these institutions existed. Even if you didn’t belong to one, you were surrounded by a certain sense of community. A closure only means another vacancy. Another lost pocket of community leaving behind beautiful housing stock in a desolate area that people with means no longer desire. Allowing drugs, crime, copper theft, etc. to run rampant. That seems to be the trend, but hopefully not!
On another note, couldn’t the city aquire these abandoned 4-familes, etc. and hire apprentices to renovate / maintain these properties as a skill teaching opportunity? The revenue generated from rent could pay for materials & salaries. We could save a multitude of historic properties that could still be “on the market”, but meanwhile they would go to good use, rather than decaying in an LRA list until they’re no longer a candidate for rehabilitation.
Anyway, just a thought,
New Year! 😁
I’m going to look into seeing if it is the same architects.
The transition from a bustling theater to a place of worship is really intriguing. I wonder how much of the original theater’s architectural features remain hidden under the church’s renovations. The change in the neighborhood’s condition over the years must also reflect the shifts in St. Louis’ history.