Imperial Theater

478 S. French Hill Street

Constructed in 1872, the Imperial began its life as a vaudeville theater, primarily catering to the immigrant residents of the French Hill neighborhood. The theater replaced live performances with films in 1916, but it could not compete with the larger Manley or Amherst Theaters; a fire in the projection room helped spur its closure in 1924. 
The theater was built in imitation of the Rocco style (modeled after Vienna's Schonbrunn Palace). Years of neglect have done much to dim its former beauty. The paint, what has not already peeled, off, is soot-stained. Mobs of pigeons have turned the uneven exterior into their private rookery and local children have busied themselves in breaking its windows. The Arkham Chamber of Commerce and the Arkham Historical Society have held informal talks about either having the theater restored or demolished, though so far these talks have gone nowhere. (Huth, Chris, et al. "The Arkham Gazette, Issue 1." Edited by Ian Maclean et al., Sentinel Hill Press, Nov. 2013.)