The theater was completed in 1967 as part of a larger urban renewal program for Baltimore’s downtown district. Although it opened to great fanfare, the theater attendance and programming steadily declined over the years. And, alas, like many brutalist structures, the theater became the target of derision and a political scapegoat. Eventually after remaining vacant for years, demolition began in the summer of 2013 but, it took close to a year for its coarse, angular façade to succumb to the relentless battering of the wrecking ball. Special thanks to Zevi Thomas.