The Penypack Theatre is an historic

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style movie house located on the 8000 block of Frankford Avenue of

Holmesburg Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast Philadelphia, Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Th ...

in the

northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

section of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Built in 1929 and designed by architect

William Harold Lee William Harold Lee (December 9, 1884 – February 3, 1971) was an American 20th century movie theater designer and later the chief architect for Eastern College. He was a protégé of acclaimed Philadelphia architect Frank Furness. Lee att ...

, the theater was designed with a 1,364 seating capacity. Among its features is a sizable stage house at its back which suggests it was likely designed both for motion picture presentations as well as live performances. Originally it was called the "Holme Theatre," but in 1946 it was renamed in honor of nearby

Pennypack Park Pennypack Park is a municipal park, part of the Philadelphia Parks & Recreation system located in Northeast Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Established in 1905 by ordinance of the City of Philadelphia, it includes about of woodlan ...

.Cinema Treasures: Penypak Theatre
/ref> Constructed at the start of the Great Depression, it appears the theater was never used to its full potential. Operating through the Depression years as a movie theater, its significance was seemingly forgotten, and thus it was never upgraded to be competitive with newer theaters built after the Depression ended. Some time during the late 1950s it was shut down as a theater and then tested as an auction house for a time. When this alternative use failed, it became a carpet outlet for many years, and finally a furniture and appliance store, before being boarded up completely soon at the start of the 21st century. Currently the building houses a Pizza Hut/Wing Street and a Dollar Tree store.

Notes

{{coord, 40.0419, -75.0261, region:US-PA_type:landmark, display=title Theatres in Philadelphia Art Deco architecture in Pennsylvania Holmesburg, Philadelphia