Friends of the Boyd Receives $30,000 Grant

posted by Ross Melnick on December 7, 2004 at 8:30 am

PHILADELPHIA, PA — The following email was sent in by Howard Haas of Friends of the Boyd:

“The Friends of the Boyd have received news of a generous grant from Arcadia Foundation for $30,000 towards recreation of the missing original Art Deco chandeliers from the Grand Lobby of Philadelphia’s Boyd Theatre.

The Boyd Theatre was built in 1928 in the French Art Deco style. The original main chandelier and two adjoining pendants were removed during 1953 remodeling. In 1971, a central chandelier not compatible with the Art Deco style was hung. The grant will be sufficient for recreation in its original Art Deco style of the main chandelier, so it will look as it did in historic photos.

All year long Friends of the Boyd leader Howard B. Haas has been leading tours of the theater, telling participants that the nonprofit organization would recreate the magnificent chandelier, along with other missing Art Deco features, and now the wish will come true.

This is the 1st grant towards the restoration of the Art Deco glories of Philadelphia’s last movie palace. An overall plan is in the works to restore and reopen the Boyd as a mixed use theater for musicals, concerts, and a film program. More information, and photos at http://www.savethesameric.org/."

Theaters in this post

• Boyd Theatre