A New Deal work crew built this 867-seat Art Deco movie house in 1936, and it later hosted Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn on the same stage where Hartsville once watched its Saturday matinees.
At a glance
The architecture firm Lafaye & Lafaye designed the Center Theater, built in 1936 with Works Progress Administration funding as part of a three-building project in downtown Hartsville. Known historically as “Building A” or the Community Center Theater, it opened as a motion-picture house seating 867, including roughly 200 in the balcony, and carries the geometric massing and detailing typical of Art Deco cinema architecture of the period.
Key facts
- Built: 1936
- Architects: Lafaye & Lafaye
- Funding: Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Style: Art Deco
- Capacity: 867 seats, ~200 in balcony
- Address: 212 N Fifth Street, Hartsville, South Carolina
- Heritage: NRHP #97000538 (June 4, 1997)
History
The Center Theater was one part of a larger Depression-era public works project in Hartsville, built alongside two companion buildings under Franklin D. Roosevelt’s WPA program. Originally built as a motion-picture theater, it gave the town a proper cinema at a moment when few small South Carolina communities could otherwise have financed one.
Over the following decades the Center Theater shifted from film exhibition toward live performance, hosting touring country music acts including Loretta Lynn and Johnny Cash — bookings that put Hartsville briefly on the same circuit as much larger Southern venues. The National Register of Historic Places listed the building in 1997, and it continues to operate as a community performing-arts venue.
What you see
The Center Theater follows the standard formula of 1930s Art Deco cinema design: a street-facing marquee announcing the building’s presence, geometric massing, and an auditorium built for sightlines to a single screen or stage rather than architectural flourish. Its restoration-era marquee, unveiled in a 2013 community ceremony, keeps the building’s original Deco character legible from Fifth Street.
Practical information
- Status: Active community performing-arts venue
- Best view: From N Fifth Street, facing the marquee
- Photography: Exterior freely photographable from the public sidewalk
Getting there
The Center Theater stands on North Fifth Street in downtown Hartsville, South Carolina, a short walk from the town’s central business district. Florence Regional Airport is about 20 miles southeast.
Nearby
- Downtown Hartsville historic commercial district — surrounds the theater
- Coker University — a short drive from downtown Hartsville
Sources
- Wikipedia: Center Theater (Hartsville, South Carolina)
- National Register of Historic Places, NRHP #97000538 (June 4, 1997)
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