3720 23rd Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN, USA

3720 23rd Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Originally opened in 1926, the Nile Theatre could seat just under 300. It was purchased by local businessmen Sidney and William Volk in 1932. Two years later, it was destroyed in a blaze.

However, the Volks rebuilt the Nile Theatre in 1936, now seating over 1,000, and costing nearly $100,000 to construct. It opened on July 31, 1936.

It was designed by architect Perry Crosier, who went on to design the Hopkins Theatre in the suburb of the same name several years later. The decor was an Art Deco-Egyptian hybrid, complete with Egyptian lobby furniture, and several large panels copied from ancient Egyptian temples covering the auditorium’s walls. The hieroglyphics spelled out greetings and blessings for theater patrons.

The Nile Theatre also contained a sound-proof mother’s room, towards the rear of the auditorium, cutting-edge projection equipment, and a parking lot for room for more than 500 cars.

In the early-1960’s, the theatre was somewhat modernized, though none of its 1930’s decoration lost. The Nile Theatre was included in a 1963 article in Life magazine on movie houses.

Falling into decline beginning in the 1970s, the theater was closed in 1982 and torn down soon afterward.

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Proposed New Theater

A new theater in south Minneapolis announcement. From the Minneapolis Star in 1936.