Jumbo Theatre
Located at North Front Street & West Girard
Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19122, USA, the
Jumbo theatre held close to 1,300 people.
The building was constructed in 1909. The Jumbo was designed by Carl Berger Berger, German-born, was born in Breslau in 1873, but was educated in Philadelphia. Berger also designed the New German Theatre on Girard Street in Philadelphia, as well as the Liederkranz Hall.
The Jumbo was renovated in 1912 by Hoffman-Henon Co. The company
also built the West Catholic High School, St. Carthage church, Ascension
Church, and the Greenfield building, amongst numerous others.The theatre showed
movies from 1909 to the 1960s. After the building was shut down it became a
warehouse. While operational the movie theatre boasted five cent reels.
The theater was named after the famous elephant that
P.T. Barnum bought from the London Zoo in 1882. The elephant was given the name
Jumbo by the zookeepers and through Barnum’s publicity machine, Jumbo became
synonymous with “huge.” The huge theatre was aptly named.
The building is currently being converted into a dollar
store and the paneling has been removed, exposing the original ornamental
brickwork. The proscenium arch inside had survived until this spring. Plans
were in the works to re-open the Jumbo as a music venue, a restaurant, or a
bar, but the plans were quickly shut down.
