On November 12, The Woodward Theater will open its doors once again as a performance venue when it hosts Brooklyn-based chamber pop musician San Fermin.
The Over-the-Rhine building has enjoyed a few identities over its 101-year life: a Kroger, a used car lot, an antiques store, and of course a silent film theater. Owner Dan McCabe, proprietor of MOTR Pub, has been overhauling the building since May, restoring historic details and adding a stage, a 24-tap bar, and space for 600 concert-goers.
We visited McCabe’s work-in-progress to document some of that incredible transformation:
The Woodward Theater is so named for William Woodward, a Cincinnati settler who owned a mansion on this spot in the early 19th century.
Woodward also donated the land for the Woodward High School building, which would become the School For Creative and Performing Arts (before it moved to its current Central Parkway home). Fun fact: Nearby Orchard Street was named for his apple orchard, and the former Abigail Street was named for his wife.
McCabe and his crew have painstakingly restored The Woodward’s former glory. Case in point: They’ve recast and painted the rosettes on the exterior marquee.
More rosettes on the interior proscenium, which is one of the only original decorations inside the theater.
The Woodward operated for many years as a storage space for Greg’s Antiques.
Much of the work has been bringing the building up to code (like restructuring the 1990s-era balcony).
Leftover signs from The Woodward’s life as a used car dealership.
McCabe standing in the theater’s old orchestra pit, which used to house musicians for silent films.
The proscenium, which is original to the theater’s interior.
Detail shot of external tile
A new home for HVAC and the all-important keg cooler
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