History

The Strand Theatre opened in June of 1915 with a screening of Hearts Delight starring box office legend Mary Pickford. The June 24, 1915, edition of the Lambertville Record reported that the theatre drew consistent crowds of people to the moving picture shows where “comfort was the keynote.” The Strand was constructed and owned by Trenton theatre magnate Charles C. Hildinger (1876-1931), who opened the Bijou Theatre in the capital in 1906. Hildinger’s extraordinary rise from an impoverished youth in Pennsylvania to a successful talking motion picture pioneer earned him the nickname “The Five Cent King of Trenton.”

The Strand Theatre operated for a number of years as an independent theater specializing in foreign and arthouse cinema until the interior was gutted by a fire on March 26, 1969. Following the fire, the building was used as a warehouse for over 50 years. Kelly Sullivan’s application to renovate the building into a mixed-use art house was unanimously approved by the Lambertville Planning Board in 2020. The Sullivans have begun renovations and designs are being finalized.

To learn more about this historical building, as well as many others in Lambertville, please visit https://lambertvillehistoricalsociety.org/thenandnow/site3