It may not look like much from the outside but this old New York movie theatre-turned church is one of the most ambitious pieces of theatre architecture I have ever seen.
It was built by the Loew’s cinema chain in 1929 as one of its five flagship “Wonder Theatres” in the New York Area. As you head inside through the entrance lobby, you begin to realise that this is no ordinary theatre….
When you finally see the theatre itself, it’s hard not to be taken aback by the sheer scale of the place and the amount of detail that has been put into every aspect of it….
The design attempts to imitate a traditional Spanish/Mexican town and the level of detail used to achieve the illusion is truly extraordinary. There is even a night sky effect including stars painted onto the ceiling.
It is truly amazing that such an architectural gem has managed to survive in such great shape after so many years. If nothing else, the theatre demonstrates the importance of preservation in the modern age. At a time when so many works of architectural beauty have been lost forever by over-eager property developers looking to make easy money, it is encouraging to see a piece of our cultural heritage still looking so fine.
The thing that strikes me most about the theatre however is how it demonstrates the striking lack of inhibition in 1920’s America. People weren’t afraid to put big and bold ideas into practice. If you’re going to build a movie theatre why not make it the most exciting movie theatre in the World? Design just doesn’t seem to happen on this scale anymore and that’s a real shame.
All of these pictures are from scoutingny.com, a fantastic blog by a film location scout based in New York. There are not only lots more pictures of this theatre on the blog but also hundreds more posts about the mind-blowing architecture that New York has to offer.
Fractalis - An ongoing journal 