Kahn's Vision of The Anthony Wayne

The , one of Wayne's defining landmarks, was built in 1928 for local theatre magnate Harry Fried. Fried had operated a theatre on North Wayne Avenue in a converted 1880s house, but with the growing popularity of movies and the dawn of the "talkie," it was clear that Wayne would need a more modern movie house.

The result was the Anthony Wayne, considered by some at first to be a futile attempt at a grand gesture that would never recoup its investment, and thus the nickname "Fried's Folly" was attached to it. The success of the theatre is evident in the fact that movies still play there 84 years later.

Fried hired the preeminent theatre architect of the time, William Harold Lee, to design the Anthony Wayne. Lee also designed the Seville in Bryn Mawr (another Fried venture; now the Bryn Mawr Film Institute), the theatre in Suburban Square, Ardmore (now the American Eagle store), and many others including the Sedgwick in Philadelphia.

This drawing shows how the theatre was intended to look, and the finished product was executed rather faithfully. However, it was not Lee who signed this rendering. Another name is just barely visible in the lower right: Louis I. Kahn. This is the same Louis Kahn who would become one of the most famous designers of mid-20th century modern architecture, known for the Salk Institute, the Kimbell Art Museum and numerous other highly-regarded works. He was also the subject of the 2003 documentary "My Architect." In 1928 Kahn was in his 20's, and evidently worked either for W.H. Lee's firm or independently to create compositions such as this.

- Greg Prichard, Radnor Historical Society