2118 Market St.
Wheeling, WV
Ohio County
304.242.7700
http://oionline.com/towngate/
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Built in 1850 as the Zion Lutheran Church, the building was acquired by the Oglebay Institute in 1969 for use as a community theatre. The two story Gothic, Greek, and Italianate Revival style structure has a façade with a central tower and large Gothic Revival windows. Early renovations involved removing pews from the nave and replacing them with theatre seats from an area movie house. A stage replaced the altar area and the church’s balcony became a lighting booth. Since then, the building has been upgraded and refurbished with particular care to preserve its architectural integrity. The Towngate Theatre seats 166 and operates year-round with 10 theatrical productions, 25 weekend movie screenings, 2 film festivals, and 5-6 unplugged music events. (Listed NRHP 1984)