Maryland Historical Trust: Inventory No. 37-25

Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No.
37-25
Maryland Inventory of
Historic Properties Form
1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)
historic Flower Theater and Shopping Center

other
2. Location
street and number 8701-8739 Flower Avenue not for publication
city, town Silver Spring, MD 20903 vicinity

county Montgomery
3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners)
name Flower Avenue Shopping Center Limited Partnership

street and number 6931 Arlington Road, Suite 410 telephone
city, town Bethesda state MD zip code 20814
4. Location of Legal Description

courthouse, registry of deeds, etc. Montgomery County Circuit Court liber 6551 folio 261
city, town Rockville tax map JP51 tax parcel tax ID number 01397603
5. Primary Location of Additional Data

Contributing Resource in National Register District
Contributing Resource in Local Historic District
Determined Eligible for the National Register/Maryland Register
Determined Ineligible for the National Register/Maryland Register
Recorded by HABS/HAER
Historic Structure Report or Research Report at MHT
Other:
6. Classification
Category Ownership Current Function Resource Count
district public agriculture landscape Contributing Noncontributing
x building(s) x private x commerce/trade recreation/culture 3 buildings
structure both defense religion sites
site domestic social structures
object education transportation objects
funerary work in progress Total
government unknown
health care x vacant/not in use Number of Contributing Resources
industry other: previously listed in the Inventory
0
7. Description Inventory No. 37-25
Condition
excellent deteriorated
x good ruins
fair altered
Prepare both a one paragraph summary and a comprehensive description of the resource and its various elements as it exists today.
The Flower Avenue Theater and Shopping Center is located on a 2.4 acre parcel in an important neighborhood
commercial center at Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road in Silver Spring. The complex faces west on Flower
Avenue and consists of a two-story theater building flanked by one story commercial buildings. There is an integral
parking area in front with addition parking to the north. The imposing two story Art Deco movie theater is the focal
point of the complex. The theater’s buff brick facades are accented with a combination of geometric and streamline
forms with Egyptian and Aztec motifs. Notable Art Deco features include the reeded limestone pillars, the ziggurat-
like roof line and the prominent “Flower” neon sign. Other significant features include the triangular marquee
projecting out over the sidewalk and metal-clad ticket booth. The theater overall retains a high level of integrity.
Continuity of materials tie the shopping center together, especially the dark granite bulkheads and ribbed metal used
throughout.
THEATER
The Flower Theater faces west on Flower Avenue. The structure is distinguished from the adjacent one story
commercial buildings by its towering walls of buff brick and contrasting limestone accents. Reeded limestone
pilasters rise above the marquee, defining the center inset bay, and terminate at an engaged limestone entablature.
Positioned prominently above the entablature is a raised neon sign composed of individual letters reading “Flower” in
a stylized streamline font. Each of the raised outer bays is punctuated with a limestone bull’s eye and is capped with a
coved limestone band with geometric relief. The front façade has a stepped parapet. At the sidewalk, the corrugated
metal clad ticket booth is centered in the entry vestibule with two sets of paired glass doors on both sides and a metal
framed marquee running above. The outer bays are clad with smooth limestone with dark granite along the bulkhead
and contain inset display boxes with metal frames. Extending over the sidewalk along the full length of the façade is
a deep triangular marquee, the underside of which has recessed lighting and panels with metal strip accents extending
radially from the ticket booth. The vestibule has terrazzo flooring.
Behind the entrance pavilion, the north and south side walls are slightly set back from and are solid except for two
sash windows on each side. Three bands, two courses each, of tan brick run along the top of the side walls. The
uppermost band flows into the roof line of the adjacent and widest section of the building, which extends further on
the north than the south, and mirrors the stepped parapet on the front façade. When viewed from the front, the
multiple roof lines form the classic Art Deco ziggurat. The auditorium is set at the rear of the building and has a
metal gable roof running perpendicular to Flower Avenue. The exterior walls are red brick divided into bays with
brick pilasters with corbelling at the eaves. A tall brick chimney rises at the rear gable end of the auditorium.
SHOPPING CENTER
Extending from either side of the theater is a row of one story brick commercial buildings with metal storefront
framing, dark granite bulkheads matching the theater, ribbed metal details matching the ticket booth, deep overhangs
and recessed entrances. The commercial buildings north of the theater continue the line of the theater along the front
property line and terminates in a larger one and half story building (8739 Flower Avenue) followed by a parking lot.
The north wall of this building is detailed similarly to the rear of the theater, divided into bays with brick pilaster and
corbelling at the eaves. The storefront has been modified along with the addition of awnings and a sign panel. The
two storefronts immediately north of the theater (8727-8729 Flower Avenue) and the one storefront immediately to
the south of the theater (8721 Flower Avenue) are integral to the main theater structure. South of the theater, the
commercial buildings step back from the sidewalk creating a small parking area between the theater and the corner of
Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road. A double storefront at 8713 Flower Avenue has terrazzo “Woolworth’s”
Maryland Historical Trust
Maryland Inventory of Inventory No. 37-25
Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Continuation Sheet
Number 7 Page 1
signs at each recessed entrance and ribbed metal running horizontally below the overhang. Originally two storefronts,
a modern steel storefront framing system at 9709-8711 Flower Avenue now consolidates them into one and is flanked
by tapered concrete block piers extending from the sidewalk to the overhang. Another tapered concrete pier divides
the storefront at 8703 Flower Avenue from the storefront at 8705 Flower Avenue. A divider with ribbed metal
paneling between the storefront at 8705 and 8707 Flower Avenue provides space for a recessed display box. 8701
Flower Avenue has been significantly altered with brick infill in the storefront openings and does not retain any of its
granite bulkheads or ribbed metal paneling like the other storefronts although does retain its corner entrance.
8. Significance Inventory No. 37-25
Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

1600-1699 agriculture economics health/medicine performing arts
1700-1799 archeology education industry philosophy
1800-1899 x architecture engineering invention politics/government
X 1900-1999 art entertainment/ landscape architecture religion
2000- commerce recreation law science
communications ethnic heritage literature social history
community planning exploration/ maritime history transportation
conservation settlement military other:
Specific dates 1950-1978 Architect/Builder John J. Zink

Construction dates 1948-1950, 1954
Evaluation for:
National Register Maryland Register not evaluated
Prepare a one-paragraph summary statement of significance addressing applicable criteria, followed by a narrative discussion of the
history of the resource and its context. (For compliance projects, complete evaluation on a DOE Form – see manual.)
SUMMARY
The Flower Theater and Shopping Center is a significant example of the neighborhood shopping center type that
developed in the 1930s and became prevalent after World War II. This shopping center marks an important
commercial center at the intersection of Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road and represents a significant phase
in the suburban development of Silver Spring. Anchoring the shopping center is a late Art Deco neighborhood
theater designed by regionally important theater architect John J. Zink. It is an intact representative example of an
Art Deco movie theater, a type that was abundant in the first half of the twentieth century. The Flower Theater
represents the end of the era of the neighborhood movie theater, which where eventually supplanted by television
and suburban multiplexes.
FLOWER THEATER AND SHOPPING CENTER

The Flower Theater and Shopping Center opened in 1950 at the northeast corner of Flower Avenue and Piney
Branch Road. After studying the area for six years, Fred S. Kogod, M. David Dubb and Herman Eig began
acquiring several parcels of lot 21 and part of lot 20 of “James H. Cissel’s Addition to Silver Spring,” which was
platted in 1920.1 Lot 21 would eventually become the site of the Flower Theater and shopping center. Construction
began in 1948.2 They acquired the remainder of lot 20 on January 31 and February 13, 1950, which was used for
parking, just in time for the theater’s opening on February 15, 1950.3 On March 1, 2010, Kogod secured a 20 year
lease on the theater and three lobby shops and a month later, the property transferred in name to the Flower
Development Corporation.4
Brother-in-law entrepreneurs Fred Kogod and Max Burka built their first theater, the Atlas, at 1331 H Street, NE,
Washington, DC, in 1938. Baltimore architect John J. Zink designed many of the Kogod-Burka theaters, including the
1
Robert K. Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C.: An Illustrated History of Parlors, Palaces, and
Multiplexes in the Metropolitan Area, 1894-1997 (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1999): 262, Montgomery County Land
Records, deed# 1012/157, May 6, 1946, deed #1097/ 111, August 25, 1947, deed #1099/ 474, September 18, 1947 and deed
#1246/ 105, April 20, 1949 and “Plat of James H. Cissel’s Addition to Silver Spring, Montgomery County, MD” Montgomery
County Circuit Court, Plat 209, June 17, 1920.
2
Blair Lee, “Business Briefs,” Maryland News, June 4, 1948: B1.
3
Montgomery County Land Records, deed #1350/197 and 1350/199, February 17, 1950.
4
Montgomery County Land Records, lease # 1728/45, September 6, 1950 and deed # 1397/297, April 1, 1950.

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Flower, which was built by the Roscoe Engineering Company. Zink collaborated with Frederick L.W. Moehle on this
theater as well as the Ontario Theater at 1700 Columbia Ave, NW, Washington, DC, in 1951.5 The 1951 Langley Theater
in Langley Park, Maryland, designed by Zink and T.V. Craycroft for the Kogod-Burka company, was part of a large
twenty store shopping center.6 Other Kogod-Burka theaters designed by Zink include the Apex, Naylor, MacArthur,
Senator and Ontario, all in Washington, DC. The Flower Theater was the seventh in the Kogod-Burka chain and their
first outside of Washington, DC.7
The grand opening of the Flower Theater included a performance by the Takoma Park High School Band and
opened with Paramount’s “The Great Lover,” starring Bob Hope. The theater was promoted in a full page as the
“Most Beautiful Theatre in This Area- One of America’s Most Modern,” which also advertised push back seats,
clear vision seating, air conditioning, gas heat, a RCA projection and sound system and free, easy parking in the 600
parking spaces designed so that there would be “no need for backing and scratching that new fender.” The theater
could seat 949 and included a sound proof nursery and party room upstairs. The theater also had the area’s first
built in candy bar. In addition to the theater, when the shopping center opened it included a florist, cleaner,
delicatessen, a Giant food store, a gift shop, hardware, drug store and children’s clothing store.8
In 1953, the Kogod-Burka Theatres company was sold to Burka’s son Fred and Marvin Goldman who continued to
operate the company’s theaters. In 1960, the Flower Avenue Development Corporation sold the shopping center
property. 9 While the theater continued to operate in the 1960s with “lines around the block,” it eventually closed in
1978 after business “trickled down to almost nothing.”10 Soon after, a multi-million ten year revitalization program
of the Flower-Piney Branch commercial area, funded by property owners and federal block grants, began.
Revitalization efforts included new storefronts, paving, streetlights, trees, sidewalks and crosswalks.11 Under new
ownership, the Flower Theater was twinned, or divided in half to make to smaller theaters, and a grand reopening
was held in September 1980. In 1982, two smaller theaters were built next to the original which were closed in
1995. The main theater closed in 1996.12
SILVER SPRING CONTEXT

Suburban development in Montgomery County began in the late nineteenth century with the development of the
railroads and streetcar lines and expanded more significantly in the Silver Spring area in the early twentieth century
5
Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C., 300.
6
“Large Shopping Center Planned in Nearby Md,” Washington Post June 11, 1950: R2.
7
“The K-B Amusement Co.,” Box Office May 15, 1948: 54.
8
Washington Post, Richard L. Coe, “New Movie House Opening,” Washington Post February 12, 1950: L1 and “New
Shopping Center Opens,” Washington Post January 15, 1950: R3.
9
Thomas Goldwasser, “K-B Theatres: Father and Son Star,” Washington Post, June 21, 1982: 14 and Montgomery County
Land Records, deed # 2724/171, April 14, 1960.
10
Stephanie Mansfield, “Melting Pot on the Edge of Affluence,” Washington Post December 3, 1979: A1. Rutlege Hawn
operated a gift shop next door to the Flower Theater from 1959 to 1969 and recalled when there were lines around the block to
get into the theater. According to KB Theater chain, “business trickled down to almost nothing.”
11
Beth Kaiman, “Flower Avenue Area in Full Bloom,” Washington Post November 3, 1988: MD31.
12
“Grand Opening Tonight of the Flower Twin Theatres [advertisement],” Washington Post September 30, 1980 and Headley,
Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C., 262.

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due to the rise of the automobile in the 1920s and the influx of new government workers during the New Deal Era
of the 1930s.13 It was during this time that the area’s first shopping center, the Silver Theatre and Shopping Center,
was constructed in downtown Silver Spring at the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road in 1938 and
was the largest complex of its kind prior to World War II. Shortly thereafter, the neighborhood shopping center
model became a national trend.14
By the early 1930s, residential development was increasing in the area between east Silver Spring and north
Takoma Park. The Highland View subdivision, extending north from Blair Road (now Piney Branch Road) on
either side of Flower Avenue, was platted in 1932 and the first houses were constructed along Flower Avenue. By
the late 1930s the Forest Hills Sligo Park subdivision was platted further west of Flower Avenue and began to be
developed along with the parcels along Piney Branch Road. By this time the Piney Branch Apartments had been
built at Piney Branch Road and Sligo Creek Parkway. Highland View was almost entirely developed along Flower
Avenue and some development had spread to the cross streets and development in the northern part of Takoma Park
also continued along Flower Avenue. In the 1940s, a shopping center was constructed on the northwest corner of
Flower Avenue and Piney Branch Road and included a service station, an Acme Super Market and Packett’s Drug
Store.15
After World War II, Montgomery County entered a period of tremendous growth and prosperity. With this
prosperity came a second influx of new government workers making Montgomery County their home.16 By 1948,
the Highland View, Forest Hills and Sligo Park had been entirely built out. Suburban life was becoming more
desirable and even greater access to the automobile made it practical for many. The rapid increase in population
required quick and economical housing to be constructed and increased access to goods and community services,
such as shopping centers.
MOVIE THEATERS IN POST-WAR ERA

The first movie theatres in the county were built in downtown commercial centers. The Bethesda Theatre and
Silver Spring Theatres date from 1938 and were both Art Moderne buildings designed by renowned New York
theater architect John Eberson. The Silver Theatre was part of a shopping center that originally contained more than
twenty stores. With its front and back parking lots, the Silver Theatre and Shopping Center was one of the first to
recognize the importance of the automobile in its design. The Bethesda Theatre was originally designed as part of a
larger shopping complex and while ultimately constructed with only single flanking stores, retained a large 500
space parking lot. 17
13
Clare Lise Cavicchi [Kelly], Places from the Past: The Tradition of Gardez Bien in Montgomery County, Maryland (Silver
Spring: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2001): 40-41 and Richard C. Jaffeson, Silver Spring
Success: An Interactive History of Silver Spring Maryland (1997): 53-55.
14
Richard Longstreth, “The Neighborhood Shopping Center in Washington, D.C., 1930-1941,” Journal of the Society of
Architectural Historians, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1992): 29-31 and Ronald L. Andrews, “Silver Theatre and Shopping Center,”
National Register of Historic Places Registration Form M: 36-7-1, Maryland Historical Trust, 1988.
15
Blair Lee, “Business Briefs,” Maryland News June 4, 1948: B1.
16
Richard K. MacMaster and Ray Eldon Hiebert, A Grateful Remembrance: The Story of Montgomery County, Maryland
(Rockville, Maryland: Montgomery County Government and the Montgomery County Historical Society, 1976): 330.
17
Cavicchi, 283, 305.

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During World War II, movie theaters took on an increasingly important role in the community. By showing
newsreels, they provided information about the war and promoted patriotism. They became the “absolute center of
American cultural life,” a gathering spot, a place to escape, socialize and be entertained. They supported the new
emphasis on family life as they moved from downtown commercial centers to suburban locations.18 One of the first
post-war theaters was the Art Deco and Moderne Druid Theatre in Damascus. Constructed in 1945-1947, the Druid
was based on Zink’s design for the Apex Theatre. It had one story commercial wings on both sides and was the first
movie theater in the area providing full air conditioning. The Druid was also the first to have a separate glass-
enclosed “crying room” so families with babies could enjoy the movie without disrupting other patrons. The
Flower Theater had a similar room catering to families.
Movie theaters were likely candidates for helping to develop post-war neighborhood shopping centers.
Architectural historian Richard Longstreth describes the relationship writing, “a theater as part of a shopping center
could significantly enhance patronage. Motion picture exhibitors likewise saw the benefits of cooperation, for the
shopping center fit well into their new program of building moderate-sized, neighborhood-oriented facilities where
attendance would seem like a routine pastime more than a special occasion.”19 A February 12, 1950 Washington
Post article covering the opening of the Flower Theater describes the appeal of constructing theaters in the
neighborhoods:
This week adds one more to the 70-odd neighborhood theaters in our sprawling area…The ‘Nabes,’ as the trade
has them, always have been good business, but especially since the war, they’ve taken a great surge ahead. The
magnates view the downtown palazzos as showcases, spots for a special evening out, or haunts of the
Washington tourist. But the ‘Nabes’ have it when it comes to solving the parking problems and the ultimate in
comfort.
At the same time, the Flower’s general manager Frank Boucher described the shopping center as a “natural magnet
for the area” and the 1949-50 Theatre Catalog called it “an integral part of a modernistic shopping center in a
fashionable suburb of Washington, D.C….the amusement focal point of a commercial area…”20 While there was a
surge in theater building locally in 1950, the increasing number of household televisions eventually began to affect
movie theater attendance. This is reflected in the in a February 1951 an editorial by theater critic Harry MacArthur
which appeared in the Washington Star entitled “Is the Neighborhood Movie Washed Up?”21 The disbanding of
studio-owned theatre chains after a 1948 Supreme Court case and increasing suburbanization also contributed to the
decline in movie theater attendance. Further outlying suburbs were developed and multi-screen movie theaters were
built along with suburban shopping malls.22
18
Maggie Valentine, The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre, Starring Charles S. Lee (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1994): 6 and Kevin J. Corbett, “The Big Picture: Theatrical Moviegoing, Digital Television, and
Beyond the Substitution Effect,” Cinema Journal 40, No. 2 (Winter 2001): 23.
19
Longstreth, 21.
20
Richard L. Coe, “New Movie House Opening” Washington Post February 12, 1950: L1 and “Flower,” Theatre Catalog, 8th
Annual Edition, 1949-1950 (September 1950).
21
Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C., 176-177.
22
Valentine, 6-7 and Corbett, 23-24.

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JOHN J. ZINK, ARCHITECT

John J. Zink was one of the great movie theater architects of the 20th century. As described by theater historian,
Robert K. Headley, “The early 1950s provided a coda to the career of one of the great movie theater architects. In
Maryland and adjoining states, during the great age of movie theater construction, Baltimorean John Zink was a
theater architect par excellence.” Zink designed nearly 200 theaters in Maryland, Washington, D.C, Virginia and
Delaware rivaling only John Eberson. Zink was born in Baltimore in 1895 and received training at the Maryland
Institute and then worked for the firm of Wyatt and Nölting before traveling to New York to train with renowned
theater architect Thomas Lamb who was known for his exotic and atmospheric theater designs. He returned to
Baltimore in 1916 and worked with Ewald H. Blank designing the Rialto Theater at Ninth and G Street, NW,
Washington, DC, completed in 1918.23
Although trained under Lamb, “Zink kept his work very plain. Most of his theaters were in restrained Classical,
Colonial, or Moderne design.”24 This can be seen in the restrained Classical style of his 1922 Takoma Theater and
1926 Colony Theater in Washington, DC.25 Zink’s later neighborhood-oriented moderne theaters such as the Atlas
(1938), Senator (1942) and MacArthur (1946)—all designated District of Columbia landmarks—have more in
common with the Flower Theater than his earlier designs. Zink also designed the National Register-listed classic
Art Deco Senator Theater in Baltimore (1939). Zink was has been described as a “versatile designer; each of his
buildings was different, and all were very well adapted to particular site conditions” and achieving in them all, “a
harmonious articulation of façades.” 26 He died in 1952, making the Flower Theater one of his last.
ART DECO AND THE MOVIE THEATER

Some of the earliest movie theaters, dating from the 1920s to early 1930s, were extravagantly designed with exotic
architectural details, such as interpretations of Spanish Colonial villas or the Paris Opera. After the Great
Depression hit, the flamboyance of these earlier designs was reduced to key elements of lights, shape and color and
there was a new focus on functionality. Movie theater designs strived to create an identity through the newest and
most fashionable styles in an effort to sell more tickets.27
Beginning in the 1930s, Art Deco became the most popular style for movie theaters. Art Deco was a style that
reached the United States after the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes
and began an important phase of American architecture. The style was derived from European Art Nouveau and
was characterized by strong geometric forms and hard edges and later more streamline designs called moderne. Art
Deco generally rejected traditional ornamentation, but not historical references entirely, in favor of new motifs that
attempted to express the new fast-paced culture with an industrial aesthetic and a “jazz age” sprit. Art Deco reached
its peak in the late 1930s but the style persisted on in an even more simplified manner until after World War II.
23
Robert K. Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Baltimore: An Illustrated History and Directory of Theaters, 1895-2004
(Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006): 155-156.
24
Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Baltimore, 156.
25
“Takoma Park Gets $130,000 Film House” Washington Post October 15, 1922: 52 and “Work Will Begin At Once on New
Crandall Theater” Washington Post July 19, 1925: R1.
26
Hans Wirz and Richard Striner, Washington Deco: Art Deco Design in the Nation’s Capital (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian
Institution Press, 1984): 85-86.
27
Valentine, 10 and Headley, Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, DC, 138.

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The Flower Theater is one of the last Art Deco movie theaters constructed in the area. It retains many of the classic
Art Deco features found on movie theaters from the 1930s and 1940s such as the zig-zag cornice line, a strong
directional emphasis that suggests movement, rectangular volumes with planes of smooth brick or stone and thick
pilasters. The Flower also makes use of the circle motif and horizontal brick coursing common on nautically-
inspired streamline designs. Zink’s 1951 Ontario Theater in Washington, DC, is another example of a late Art Deco
movie theater but with far less integrity than the Flower Theater. The Langley Theater in Langley Park, Maryland,
designed by Zink and T.V. Craycroft in 1951, represents a shift towards the International Style and marks the end of
the era of the Art Deco movie theater.
THEATERS DESIGNED BY JOHN JACOB ZINK

1922 Takoma, 4th and Butternut Street NW, Washington, DC
1926 Colony, 4935 Georgia Avenue, NW, Washington, DC
Tivoli, 20 West Patrick St, Frederick, MD
1935 Milo (Villa), 120 Commerce Lane, Rockville, MD demolished
1936 Uptown, 3426 Connecticut Avenue NW, Washington, DC
1937 Newton, 3601 12th NE, Washington, DC
Reed, 1723 King Street Alexandria, VA demolished
1938 Atlas, 1331 H Street NE, Washington, DC
1939 Congress, 2931 Nichols Ave SE, Washington, DC altered
1940 Village, 1307 Rhode Island Ave NE, Washington, DC, with Raymond C. Snow altered
Apex, 4813 Mass Ave NW, Washington, DC, demolished
1942 Senator, 3946-3956 Minnesota Ave NE, Washington, DC, only entrance pavilion remains
1945 Naylor, 2834 Alabama Ave SE, Washington, DC altered
1946 MacArthur, 4859 MacArthur Blvd, Washington, DC
Shirlington, 2800 S. Randolph Street, Arlington, VA demolished
1948 Carver, 2405 Martin Luther King, Jr. Avenue SE, Washington, DC altered
King’s Palace, 1120 Queen Street Alexandria, VA
1950 Flower, 8701 Flower Avenue, Silver Spring, MD, with Frederick Moehle
1951 Langley, 8014 New Hampshire Avenue, Langley Park, MD, with T.V. Craycroft altered
Ontario, 1700 Columbia Ave NW, Washington, DC, with Frederick Moehle altered
9. Major Bibliographical References Inventory No. 37-25
See attached.
10. Geographical Data

Acreage of surveyed property 2.4
Acreage of historical setting
Quadrangle name Quadrangle scale:
Verbal boundary description and justification
The property is bounded by Piney Branch Avenue on the south and Flower Avenue to the west and is part of lot 20 and
21 on block 1 of James H. Cissel’s Addition to Silver Spring.
11. Form Prepared by

name/title Lisa Mroszczyk, Senior Planner
organization M-NCPPC/Montgomery County Planning Department date May 28, 2010
street & number 8787 Georgia Avenue telephone 301-563-3400
city or town Silver Spring state MD
The Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties was officially created by an Act of the Maryland Legislature
to be found in the Annotated Code of Maryland, Article 41, Section 181 KA,
1974 supplement.
The survey and inventory are being prepared for information and record purposes only
and do not constitute any infringement of individual property rights.
return to: Maryland Historical Trust

DHCD/DHCP
100 Community Place
Crownsville, MD 21032-2023
410-514-7600

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Number 9 Page 1
Major Bibliographic References
Andrews, Ronald L. “Silver Theatre and Shopping Center,” National Register of Historic Places Registration Form
M: 36-7-1, Maryland Historical Trust, 1988.
Cavicchi [Kelly], Clare. Places from the Past: The Tradition of Gardez Bien in Montgomery County, Maryland. Silver
Spring: Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, 2001.
Coe, Richard L. “New Movie House Opening” Washington Post, February 12, 1950: L1.
Corbett, Kevin J. “The Big Picture: Theatrical Moviegoing, Digital Television, and Beyond the Substitution Effect,”
Cinema Journal 40, No. 2 (Winter 2001): 23-24.
Goldwasser, Thomas. “K-B Theatres: Father and Son Star” Washington Post, June 21, 1982: 14.
Headly, Robert K. Motion Picture Exhibition in Baltimore : An Illustrated History and Directory of Theaters, 1895-
2004. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2006.
Headley, Robert K. Motion Picture Exhibition in Washington, D.C.: An Illustrated History of Parlors, Palaces, and
Multiplexes in the Metropolitan Area, 1894-1997. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1999.
Jaffeson, Richard C. Silver Spring Success: An Interactive History of Silver Spring Maryland (1997).
Kaiman, Beth. “Flower Avenue Area in Full Bloom,” Washington Post November 3, 1988: MD31.
Lee, Blair. “Business Briefs,” Maryland News June 4, 1948: B1.
Longstreth, Richard. “The Neighborhood Shopping Center in Washington, D.C., 1930-1941,” Journal of the Society
of Architectural Historians, Vol. 51, No. 1 (March 1992): 29-31.
MacMaster, Richard K. and Ray Eldon Hiebert. A Grateful Remembrance: The Story of Montgomery County,
Maryland. Rockville, Maryland: Montgomery County Government and the Montgomery County Historical
Society, 1976.
Mansfield, Stephanie. “Melting Pot on the Edge of Affluence” Washington Post, December 3, 1979: A1.
Melnick, Ross and Andreas Fuchs. Cinema Treasures: A New Look at Classic Movie Theater
Valentine, Maggie. The Show Starts on the Sidewalk: An Architectural History of the Movie Theatre, Starring
Charles S. Lee. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1994.

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Number 9 Page 2
Waller, Gregory Albert. Moviegoing in America: A Sourcebook in the History of Film Exhibition. Malden, MA:
Blackwell Publishers, 2002.
Wirz, Hans and Richard Striner. Washington Deco: Art Deco Design in the Nation’s Capital. Washington, D.C.:
Smithsonian Institution Press, 1984.
Montgomery County Land Records
“Flower,” Theatre Catalog, 8th Annual Edition, 1949-1950, Jay Emanuel Publications, Inc., September 1950.
“Grand Opening Tonight of the Flower Twin Theatres [advertisement],” Washington Post September 30, 1980.
“New Shopping Center Opens” Washington Post, January 15, 1950: R3.
“New Silver Spring Theater Has Nursery, ‘Party Room,’” Washington Star, February 12, 1950.
“Takoma Park Gets $130,000 Film House” Washington Post October 15, 1922: 52
“The K-B Amusement Co.,” Box Office May 15, 1948: 54.
“Work Will Begin At Once on New Crandall Theater” Washington Post July 19, 1925: R1.

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FLOWER
THEATER AND
SHOPPING
CENTER
Location Map, Flower Theater, 8701-8739 Flower Avenue, Silver Spring, MD (Source: M-NCCPC GIS 03.12.2010)

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Number 9 Page 4
FLOWER
THEATER
AND
SHOPPING
CENTER
Site Map, Flower Theater, 8701-8739 Flower Avenue, Silver Spring, MD (Source: M-NCCPC GIS 03.12.2010)

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Excerpt 1927 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, updated 1963


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Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 7
“New Shopping Center Opens,” Washington Post, January 15, 1950, p. R3.
Excerpt from a display advertisement, Washington Post, January 20, 1950, p. 7


Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 8
Flower Theater and

Shopping Center, view
from the southwest, Lisa
Mroszczyk, 04.01.2010

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 9
Flower Theater, view from Flower Theater and

the south, Lisa Shopping Center, view
Mroszczyk, 04.01.2010 from the north, Lisa

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 10
Flower Theater and

Shopping Center, front
(west) facade, Lisa

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 11
Flower Theater, Entry

vestibule and marquee
from the northwest, Lisa
Flower Theater, ticket

booth, Lisa Mroszczyk,
04.01.2010

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 12
Flower Theater, sign and

front façade detail, Lisa
Flower Theater, door

detail, Lisa Mroszczyk,
04.01.2010

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 13
Flower Theater and

from the southwest, Lisa
Flower Theater and

from the northwest, Lisa

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 14
Flower Avenue Shopping

Center, 8739 Flower
Avenue, view from the
west, Lisa Mroszczyk,
04.01.2010

Center, 8701-8713 Flower
northwest, Clare Lise
Kelly, January 2010

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 15

Center, 8713 Flower
Avenue (Woolworth’s),
view from the southwest,
Lisa Mroszczyk,
04.01.2010

Center, 8713 Flower
Avenue, Woolworth’s
sign detail, Lisa

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 16

Center, 8703-8709 Flower
west, Lisa Mroszczyk,
04.01.2010

Center, 8703 Flower
Avenue, storefront detail,
Lisa Mroszczyk,
05.12.2010

Continuation Sheet
Number 9 Page 17

Center, 8705 Flower
Avenue, storefront detail,
Lisa Mroszczyk,
05.12.2010

Center, 8713 Flower
Avenue, storefront
framing detail, Lisa

Maryland Historical Trust: Inventory No. 37-25

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Maryland Historical Trust: Inventory No. 37-25

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Maryland Historical Trust Inventory No.

1. Name of Property (indicate preferred name)

historic Flower Theater and Shopping Center

city, town Silver Spring, MD 20903 vicinity

3. Owner of Property (give names and mailing addresses of all owners)

name Flower Avenue Shopping Center Limited Partnership

4. Location of Legal Description

5. Primary Location of Additional Data

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Period Areas of Significance Check and justify below

Specific dates 1950-1978 Architect/Builder John J. Zink

National Register Maryland Register not evaluated

FLOWER THEATER AND SHOPPING CENTER

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

SILVER SPRING CONTEXT

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

MOVIE THEATERS IN POST-WAR ERA

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

JOHN J. ZINK, ARCHITECT

ART DECO AND THE MOVIE THEATER

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

THEATERS DESIGNED BY JOHN JACOB ZINK

10. Geographical Data

Verbal boundary description and justification

11. Form Prepared by

return to: Maryland Historical Trust

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Major Bibliographic References

Lee, Blair. “Business Briefs,” Maryland News June 4, 1948: B1.

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Montgomery County Land Records

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Excerpt 1927 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, updated 1963

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Excerpt from a display advertisement, Washington Post, January 20, 1950, p. 7

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Flower Theater and

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Flower Theater, view from Flower Theater and

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center

Flower Theater and

Historic Properties Form

Name Flower Theater and Shopping Center