Today we’ll look at a before and after of the intersection of Fifth and Ludlow Streets looking north towards Fourth.
This was a bustling commercial area in the early 20th century, and there have been some significant changes to the buildings over time, although the block is still much more intact overall than the majority of downtown.
In the historic image you can see a theater (identified as the Liberty Theatre which dates the image to around 1921-23 when it had that name).
What is more commonly known as the Colonial Theater was originally known as the Strand Theatre when it opened in 1912. It was designed by prominent architect Albert Pretzinger who also did the Dayton Daily News and Arcade Commercial Building which you can see in the distance of both photos.
The theater through a whirlwind of changes in its early years. In just 1915 it was renamed B. F. Keith’s Theatre and brought in vaudeville. By the time it had become the Liberty Theatre, “the management was desperately trying to stay afloat and started showing a number of different programs like westerns and burlesque.” It next shifted to the Gayety Theatre and then the Colonial Theatre, which was the first in Dayton to regularly feature “talkies,” with the first full-length, all-talking movie being “Lights of New York” on September 22, 1928, which drew large crowds.”
In 1930 it became an RKO theater and started showing second run and B movies.
St. John’s Lutheran Church today stands on the site of the old theater.
The theater building was sold to the church in 1964, which had been located at 27 N. St. Clair St. since 1865.
The RKO Colonial was demolished in 1965. A source states that “the company hired to demolish the theatre had their work cut out for them; the theatre did not die easily with it’s solid construction.”
A theater being demolished to be replaced by a new-build church has to be a rare building substitution pattern nationwide.
Dayton Public Schools – Downtown Buildings
The block of buildings past the Colonial Theater/church as well as the corner building on the opposite side of the street are associated with Dayton Public Schools.
The 5-story corner building that is on the right side of both photos is known as the Ludlow Building. It’s actually three parts, with the corner structure flanked by 3-story blocks on both sides.
It was built c. 1917 and forms part of the National Register-listed Terra Cotta District, where we find a great collection of early twentieth century commercial buildings, all but one decorated in Beaux Arts Classicism style terra-cotta.
The Ludlow Building features simpler storefronts below and richly detailed upper stories, including an ornate frieze and cornice and terra-cotta accents throughout.
Dayton Public Schools moved its administrative headquarters to this building in 2021, moving across the street from the buildings that are behind the theatre on the west side of Ludlow Street.
That block represents a truly unique potential redevelopment opportunity due to the fact that the historic structures are still standing but were covered up by Reynolds and Reynolds in the 1980s which installed an “exterior finish and insulation system.”
It’s worth noting that Reynolds and Reynolds also renovated this building in the mid-1990s to use as a training center and offices. DPS had previously had offices there since 2003 before consolidating its whole central office.
Sources
When Dayton Went to the Movies, Curt Dalton
Dayton Through Time, Curt Dalton
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