St. Andrews Cinema closed after small fire
October 2, 2019
The beloved 49-year-old cinema, just off of I-70, was the site of a small fire at 2 a.m. on Wednesday.
The fire began due to an electrical issue. According to a post by Tristan Ratterman, the manager of the cinema, “an outlet had been rigged ‘extend’ across the brick wall and covered by a wire cover on the wall.”
The fire started in the lobby, which was completely damaged. The rest of the building has smoke damage. Ratterman said insurance will come out to check the building, and no one was injured during the fire.
There is no date set for when the theater will open again.
St. Andrews had recently gotten new bathrooms and new carpeting as well as cleaning and building repairs. The managers also started a fundraiser on Facebook on Aug. 27 to keep funding the renovation.
“Soon we’ll have a newly-remodelled lobby to match our 1970’s-time capsule cinema, but we’re needing some help,” the Facebook fundraiser read.
All of the donors were planned to be recognized with a plaque at the lobby of the cinema.
Ratterman wrote in his Facebook post that the fire was “absolutely devastating given the cinema’s age (49 years, the second oldest continually operating cinema in St. Louis), the recent restoration/fundraiser and the financial burden of trying to reopen.”