18 West Lexington Street Baltimore,Maryland  ( Downtown )	" Gone with the Wind "  showing at the Century Theatre, Baltimore Maryland. While the film was released in 1939, at was shown many times at Baltimore theaters in later years.
John Kilduff Collection    Looking east on Lexington Street at the front of the Century Theatre in Downtown Baltimore City.	John Kilduff  Collection     From a Christmas card John Kilduff made back in the 1940's, a drawing of the Century Theatre.

     

Along with the Stanley Theatre and Keith's, the Century / Valencia Theatres are the best known theaters of Baltimore before 1950. The theatres were located on Lexington Street between Charles Street and Cathedral Street and were torn down in the 1960's, to make way for Charles Center, an office complex. There is absolutely no trace of the old theatre or the unit block of West Lexington Street where it once stood. The Century opened in the early 1920's, and had a roof top ballroom which was later converted into the Valencia Theatre. Many of the photos came from John Kilduff's Collection when he worked for the Century Theatre. ........................................    Admission prices when this photo was taken were about 25 cents for a daytime movie and 35 cents for the evening show. This close up shot is of the Century Box Office circa 1950.  "Apache" was released in 1954, starring Burt Lancaster and Jean Peters.          John Kilduff left behind a good bit of material on the Century/Valencia, Keith's and the Parkway. Check out thess links to see even more on what he had :

The Century Theatre was famous for the promotions they had for movies.  Walking books, linking upcoming movies to car dealerships, there was always a way to promote a upcoming movie to get folks to the Century.	The fronts that the Century Theatre had were quite a sight. The entire Unit block of West Lexington Street would light up at night.	The interior of the Century Theatre was quite a sight as well,  one of the " big houses"in downtown Baltimore City.

As a downtown movie house, the Century always had an ad in the local papers, and  the ads were always colorful, creative and very visual.	When it was first built, the Century had a roof top ballroom, which was later converted into the Valencia Theatre.	A few photos of the razing of the Century, with before and after pictures, and the site today.
	Please feel free to email Kilduffs with any questions or comments . Updated 5-25-2008