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A Theatre and Business Development Serving Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Is in Springfield Township!
THE COLLEGE THEATRE
Within sight of Crum Creek Valley, and the Leiper quarries which have been worked since the American Revolution, Paul J. and Ruth Carey have built a business block housing a theatre. Built of full range red Colonial brick in a modified Georgian style, the while columned front of the theatre sets back from the front line of the adjoining stores, so that the business block conforms to the suburban dignity of the community. The theatre project lies wholly within Springfield Township, since abutting Swarthmore has an ordinance prohibiting the erection of a theatre within the borough limits. Several years ago the Swarthmore Players built its theatre on ground in Springfield donated by Victor Shirer, and now the present cinema-stores project is on a parcel purchased from the very same Shirer tract!
THE COLLEGE THEATRE is unusual in that it has no marquee, no sign work in the orthodox manner, yet this lack of patent theatricalism is what makes the house singularly appropriate to its location. Right across Fairview Road from staid Swarthmore (whose ordinances prohibit the building of a theatre) and hard by
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1946-47 THEATRE CATALOG
Ground was broken for the project late in November, 1945, and construction was well under way before government restrictions were imposed on commercial building. Adjoining the development is a large Victorian stone house which will eventually house a tea room. On the other (the north) side, there is room for two more stores. At the corner of the lot is a filling station, and behind this, in the future, will be a bowling alley and recreation building.
The outstanding feature of the interior are two photographic murals, one of Parrish Hall, the main building of nearby Swarthmore College, and the other of Clothier Memorial Tower on the college campus. Measuring 915 feet wide by 16% feet high, the original rhotographs were taken by G. Harry Hladky. The pictures were enlarged in six sections by Berry and Homer.
Paved parking space for some 400 cars is provided at the side and rear of the theatre and stores, with a 25-foot wide off-highway parking space for 35 cars edging along Chester Road.
In addition to serving residents of Swarthmore, the new business center will serve the communities along Fairview Road, including Grace Park, Woodlyn, and Penn Hills. The development is also convenient to Springhaven Estates, Ridley Township, Wallingford, Morton, and Rutledge.
As the theatre opened, the subsequentrun policy was two changes a week, with a matinee and two evening shows Monday through Friday, continuous from noon on Saturday, and no Sunday showings. Adult admission were 35 cents at matinees and 60 cents at night, with children 20 cents at all times.
Swarthmore College (in honor of which the theatre is named), the theatre and entire development is quite in keeping with the spirit of the area. A triangular pylon surmounted by a flagpole, erected in front of the theatre, provides the space for announcing the present and coming attractions in this very up-to-date cinema.
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