A two-story brick front with a stepped, corbeled parapet and geometric brick banding. A streamlined metal marquee lettered "MANCHESTER," its underside lined with bulbs, projected over the recessed entrance, and a tall vertical blade sign spelling the theater's name rose from the roofline on an open steel frame. Poster cases flanked the doors at the sidewalk.
The Manchester Theatre opened on January 2, 1922 at 4247 Manchester Avenue in Forest Park Southeast, designed by E. Price Porter for the St. Louis Amusement Company. Its Manchester Avenue entrance opened into an auditorium that ran back along the street behind, and it seated about 790. Arthur Enterprises later operated the house, which cut back to weekend-only screenings in its final years before closing in April 1964. The building was demolished in 1969.
