Baker Theater Looking for New Owner

Dover’s Baker Theater, opened as a vaudeville playhouse, has hosted icons such as Harry Houdini, Abbott & Costello, and George Burns and Gracie Allen. Some of film’s biggest stars came to life during its days as a movie theater. Now the landmark at 39 W. Blackwell Street, with its iconic Broadway-style marquee, is entering a new chapter.

The well-known 1,200-seat theater is on the market. Its asking price is $3.7 million.

The sale will mark a change in the Baker Theater’s nearly 120 years as a piece of Dover history, which opened its doors on Dec. 5, 1855.

More than a century’s worth of famous names—including George Burns and Gracie Allen—performed on its massive stage. The entertainment center, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been a vaudeville house, a concert venue, a reception hall, and a church.

The landmark opened as the Baker Theatre. Over the years, it was reimagined as the Stargate and Baker Ballroom, among other names, before being rechristened as the Baker Theater. 

Dover businessman William H. Baker built the Baker Opera House at 16 W. Blackwell Street in 1885 to bring vaudeville entertainment to residents. The Opera House quickly outgrew its space and closed in 1904. A block away, the grand new theater, which cost $75,000 to build, was under construction.

Now, the Baker waits to find out what will play there next.

EDITOR’S NOTE: To learn more about the theater's past and future, read the full story in the October/November issue of DOVERNOW.