The Feature Presentation
From a 1930 Art Deco movie palace to a landmark boutique hotel — nearly a century on High Street.
In 1930, the Warner Theatre opened its Art Deco doors on High Street and brought Hollywood to downtown West Chester. For decades it was the town's grand movie palace — a place where brass gleamed, curtains parted, and stories came to life. Today, that same spirit lives on as Hotel Warner.
The Warner Theatre opens on North High Street as an Art Deco movie palace. With ornamental plasterwork, a grand staircase, and brass detailing, it becomes the crown jewel of downtown West Chester.
For over three decades, the Warner Theatre is the place to see films in West Chester. Families, couples, and students fill the seats as Hollywood's golden age plays out beneath the theater's Art Deco ceiling.
As movie-going habits change, the Warner Theatre reinvents itself as a live performance venue, extending the building's life as a cultural gathering place.
West Chester Borough Council votes to allow partial demolition. The iconic marquee comes down — but the front section, lobby, grand staircase, and brick concession wall survive. The space becomes offices for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Groundbreaking to transform the remaining historic structure into a boutique hotel. The original lobby becomes the hotel lobby. The brick concession wall becomes the front desk.
Hotel Warner is inducted into Historic Hotels of America, recognizing its legacy of adaptive reuse and preservation.
Sixty-seven rooms, the Marquee Bar, a preserved 1930s grand staircase, and the only full-service hotel in historic downtown West Chester.
What Remains
The original 1930 staircase rises through the lobby, radiating with old Hollywood elegance — the most photographed feature in the hotel.
Once the backdrop to the theater's concession stand, this preserved wall now serves as the check-in area.
The former theater lobby now functions as the hotel lobby, filled with historical photographs from the Warner Theatre's glory days.
A floor-to-ceiling mural depicting High Street and the Warner Theatre as it appeared in 1949 greets guests in the lobby.
A Proud Member Since 2016
Hotel Warner is recognized by the National Trust for Historic Preservation as part of the Historic Hotels of America program — honoring hotels that have faithfully maintained their historic integrity, architecture, and sense of place.
The curtain rises every evening on High Street.
120 North High Street · West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380