Warner Centre

Warner Centre was a former theater and concert hall at 332 Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The site began as the Grand Theatre, which opened on March 7, 1918. Its opening program featured Douglas Fairbanks in Headin' South and Winifred Westover in Her Husband’s Wife, placing the venue within Pittsburgh’s early twentieth-century cinema and entertainment landscape. The building was later renamed the Warner Theatre on January 2, 1930. Under the Warner Theatre name, the venue served as both a movie theater and a concert hall. Its location on Fifth Avenue placed it in the commercial core of downtown Pittsburgh, where theaters functioned as important destinations for film exhibition, live performance, and urban leisure. The available historical record does not identify the original founder, operator, owner, architectural firm, seating capacity, or a complete performance schedule, so those details remain undocumented here. The theater closed in 1983. Rather than being preserved or reopened, its auditorium was demolished and the property was redeveloped as a two-story indoor shopping center named Warner Center. This conversion ended the site’s use as a theater and concert venue while retaining the Warner name in a new commercial context. The shopping center included a food court, but that food court closed in 2003. The available reference material does not establish the later ownership, operating status, tenant mix, or any current official website for the shopping center. The name therefore describes two successive uses of one Pittsburgh site: first, an entertainment venue that began as the Grand Theatre and became the Warner Theatre in 1930; and later, a retail-oriented indoor center created after the theater’s closure and demolition. Because the source record is limited and the venue itself no longer operates as a theater, the present status of Warner Centre as a commercial property is not classified as active here.

The property now associated with Warner Centre opened as the Grand Theatre on March 7, 1918, at 332 Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. Its opening film program included Douglas Fairbanks in Headin' South and Winifred Westover in Her Husband’s Wife. The opening indicates that the venue began primarily within the era’s expanding commercial motion-picture theater business, although the available sources do not provide detailed information about its construction, architect, capacity, financing, or original management. On January 2, 1930, the theater was renamed the Warner Theatre. The new name reflected the venue’s later identity as a Warner-branded entertainment property. It operated as both a theater and concert hall, combining motion-picture exhibition with live entertainment. Its Fifth Avenue location gave it a prominent position in Pittsburgh’s downtown entertainment and retail district. No complete list of films, performers, promoters, or major renovations is identified in the supplied reference material. The Warner Theatre closed in 1983. The auditorium was subsequently demolished, ending the building’s historic function as a cinema and concert venue. The site was redeveloped as a two-story indoor shopping center known as Warner Center. This change represented a shift from a single-purpose entertainment building to a mixed retail environment designed around shops and indoor public circulation. The redevelopment preserved the Warner naming element but not the original auditorium. A food court operated within the shopping center before closing in 2003. The available account does not specify whether the broader shopping center continued operating after that date, when it may have closed, or what businesses occupied the property. It also does not establish a current owner, operator, or official website. Accordingly, Warner Centre is best documented as a historic Pittsburgh theater and concert venue whose site was converted into a shopping center, rather than as an operating theater brand.

• 2003

  Food court closes

  [1]Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The food court in the indoor shopping center closed in 2003.

• 1983

  Theater closes and auditorium is demolished

  [1]Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The Warner Theatre ceased operating, and its auditorium was demolished as the site was prepared for redevelopment.

• 1930

  Renamed Warner Theatre

  [1]Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The theater adopted the Warner Theatre name on January 2, establishing the identity under which it was subsequently known as a cinema and concert venue.

• 1918

  Grand Theatre opens

  [1]Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org

  The venue opened on March 7 at 332 Fifth Avenue in downtown Pittsburgh. Its inaugural program featured Douglas Fairbanks in Headin' South and Winifred Westover in Her Husband’s Wife.

• Site becomes Warner Center shopping center

  [1]Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org

  A two-story indoor shopping center named Warner Center was built on the former theater site after the auditorium’s demolition.

A downtown Pittsburgh entertainment venue that was later repositioned as an indoor shopping center.

• Cinema and theater venue · 1918

  Grand Theatre

  The original entertainment venue at the Pittsburgh site. It opened in 1918 with a motion-picture program and formed the first documented phase of the property’s history.

• Theater and concert hall · 1930

  Warner Theatre

  The renamed venue operated as a theater and concert hall after adopting the Warner Theatre name in 1930. It provided film exhibition and live entertainment before closing in 1983.

• Indoor shopping center · 1983

  Warner Center

  The two-story indoor shopping center built after the former theater auditorium was demolished. It included retail space and a food court, the latter of which closed in 2003.

• 1983

  Redevelopment from theater to shopping centerStrategy

  Background

  The Warner Theatre had closed, and the former entertainment site was selected for a new commercial use.

  Action taken

  The auditorium was demolished and replaced by a two-story indoor shopping center named Warner Center.

  Aftermath

  The site ceased to function as a cinema and concert hall and became a retail-oriented indoor center. The shopping center later included a food court that closed in 2003.

  Source

1. 1Warner Centreen.wikipedia.org