The STILLMAN THEATER was among the most elaborate motion-picture houses in the U.S. It was conceived by Emanuel Mandelbaum, owner of the Knickerbocker Theater at East 83rd and EUCLID AVE. Mandelbaum sought to open a downtown theater showing silent films instead of vaudeville performances. The result was the Stillman Theater (1115 Euclid Ave.) which opened in 1916 just west of the Statler Hotel and behind an adjoining hotel annex. Patrons thus could reach the theater from a lobby in the Statler.
The Stillman was built on the former estate of STILLMAN WITT, a railroad builder. The theater replaced the luxury Stillman Hotel (the first Cleveland hotel built east of Public Square) which had occupied the space from 1884 to 1902. Prior to that, the property was owned by Norman C. Baldwin, after whom the Baldwin Reservoir is named.
The new theater was designed primarily by Thomas W. Lamb and could hold 1,800 patrons: 1,200 in the main auditorium and 600 more in the balcony. It was equipped with an Austin pipe organ which sported a 3-manual console and 35 ranks. Mandelbaum sold the Stillman to the Lowe’s theater chain in 1917. As one of 3 downtown Loew's venues, it shared first-run MGM feature films with the STATE and the OHIO theaters, both of which were constructed in 1921. The Stillman was the first Cleveland venue to present The Jazz Singer (in 1928) and Gone with the Wind (in 1940). The Stillman closed on 28 July 1963 following a 16-week run of Lawrence of Arabia. For a period, remnants of the lobby were visible from the Statler garage entrance.
Updated by Chris Roy 25 April 2026
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