Olympic Theater Concert Hall
851 Prospect Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10459
851 Prospect Avenue,
Bronx,
NY
10459
7 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 44 comments
The first time I was at this movie theater was on Monday June 18, 1979 checking out the now disappointing Game of Death with the still funny af Fast Break
Kevin - responding to your comment in 2017. Archivist here at NYPL for the Performing Arts. I just finished re-housing the theatre folder for the Prospect (Bronx). There is only one item in the folder - a newspaper clipping from NY Times Aug 21, 1934 saying: “Two Theatres to Open (title): Signs that the new Yiddish theatrical season is gradually bestirring itself after a long interval of silence are made known in two announcements concerning outlying houses. For the coming season the Prospect Theatre in the Bronx will be operated by Nathan Goldberg and Jacob Jacobs, actor-managers. Before the opening early next month the theatre will be extensively renovated. The bills will consist of musical comedies, operettas and dramatic attractions. A resident company will appear in them. In Brooklyn the Hopkinson Theatre also will reopen its doors early next month. Anna Miels, a musical comedy actress, has been engaged to appear in the leading feminine roles opposite Julius Nathanson.”
The church seems to have made a terrible decision. If the building was renovated in 2000 they probably could have started up operations as is. More renovations could have followed as they got the funds together.
Comfortably, the “rule” is that the last name of a venue is the one listed. Exceptions seem to be the norm, however. Since all of the names on the site will give you access it doesn’t usually matter.
Wouldn’t it make more sense for this to be listed as Prospect Theatre or RKO Prospect, which were used for all of its cinematic history? Olympic was later used for a concert venue that never proved successful.
I am interested in acquiring this property. I’ve met and spoken with someone in previous times. My plan is to restore the great old theatre to it’s original natural beauty. This will become a multi purpose facility such as for plays, meetings, films, vocal/ choir rehearsals, museum tours and much, much more. Negotiations are not active and still pending. Anyone with any ideas or wishing to communicate regarding this theater, or simply wish to comment, I can be reached at
im interested in getting this place and its not worth the 4.5million its being listed for hop someone sees my comment and reaches out for any ideas we can all be apart of. let me know as soon as you see my comment email me about this place prices plans and restrictions on it if any…please
I wish to discourage anyone from entering this theater. The stairs have rotted away, there are holes in the floors and outside the building and some are quite deep. I would presume by the loss of one of the water tanks from the south side of the roof, the ladders having fallen off the building etc. It is quite unstable. The walls are in remarkably good shape. I have many more photos and some video but posting to this site is rather slow and I have more photos from other theaters in the New York City area. Does anyone know who the architect was for this theater? There is almost no research available on theaters in the Bronx unless it is the Opera House or the Paradise Theater. That means not at the Bronx Historical and New York Historical Societies, the NYPL Performing Arts branch etc. Thank you for whatever you might have on theaters in the South Bronx
I have many photos of this theater which was gutted and is now for sale. I am looking for any materials on this theater or the the one across the street, the President(Arcadia) or down the block, the Burland and the Empire. There is very little material to be found at the NYPL and nothing at the Bronx Historical Society. Anyone know who the architects were for these theaters?
Currently for sale for $4.5 million.
http://www.loopnet.com/Listing/19773768/851-PROSPECT-AVENUE-Bronx-NY/
Photo of the Prospect in the day uploaded.
I love this site and I live in the bronx. I have a great idea for this old theatre. Now the question is, how can I acquire it?
Actually, the Prospect Theatre opened on November 12, 1910. I have the “Dedicatory Souvenir (booklet),” listing all the credits for the construction, etc. Reason being, my great-grandfather, Arthur Brounet, did the interior decorations. The introduction went on “…a playhouse that is second to none of the beautiful theatres in Greater New York…the orchestra contains some 570 seats not including boxes; the balcony contains 400, and the gallery, 360.
Now the church web site appears to be completely gone.
http://www.alttabernacle.org only leads to a place-holder. All of their content is gone.
Judging by the decisions they made I guess I am not surprised.
Pretty sad looking photo Andrew.
This theatre is in terrible condition. It should be saved.
Hard to believe that after all the effort that was made to restore this theatre that it remains shuttered. Granted that it sits in a hard-scrabble community, but where is the wide-visioned impressario who can make a venue like this or the Paradise successful. The Loews 175th St. in Washington Heights is now attracting top tier talent such as the Allman Brothers & Bob Dylan. Is no one willing to perform in the Bronx?
here’s a picture i took of it last week:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/awertz/3963814745/
thanks for all the great history and old photos!
Actually, when I click on a link from the April 08 comment I can get to all areas of the church web site. For some reason my December comment takes me to a bunch of dead links. But, they still don’t have any mention of the theatre project linked to the main ministry site. This would seem to suggest the project has stalled.
The church web site is no longer completely functional. It would appear that they gutted the theatre, than stopped upon realizing they did not have the funds to carry out their urban paradise concept. At least the group working on the Elmwood had the money to follow through on their grand designs.
This a text book case of grandiosity, short-sightedness and poor planning. They could’ve been holding services in the auditorium. Now, perhaps, they are running from unpaid contractors.
The exterior of the Prospect can be seen in the 1982 Italian slasher classic NEW YORK RIPPER. There’s a quick shot at night with the marquee lit up, and a shot in the day where a character comes down the elevated train stairs and walks by the theater and then around the corner. If I can pull a still from the DVD I’ll try to post it.
So, has the church finished “Raping” the old Prospect Theatre?
Hopefully, they ran out of money before too much damage could be done.
Passed by there yesterday and it’s still abandoned. Looks nothing like the renderings featured on the tabernacle website. Pretty sad seeing it like that.
They have begun to ravage the building:
View link
Scroll through the photo sequence and you’ll see what I am talking about.
Forgive me for saying so, but I think anyone who believes “the Lord” would want them to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars destroying an attractive and recently-renovated historical building doesn’t understand the concept of religion. Think of all the outreach ministries they could have sponsored with that money.
Ugh!!!! This is disgusting! I agree with KenRoe that many chrches have made adaptive reuse of theaters in a way respectful of the original architecture and history of the building. Paramount among these are Reverend Ike’s Loews’s 175th Street theater, The Tabernacle of Prayer’s Loew’s Valencia in Jamaica, Queens and The Rock Fellowships Loew’s Elmwood in Elmhurst, Queens. There are several excellent examples in Brooklyn as well, but this is a travesty. I can only hope that YngBronxite was being sarcastic with his “very nice” comment.
I understand that not every theater can be saved and that not all purchasers of historic theaters will have the will (or the money) to restore them. This will be one of the theaters that should be marked pretty much as demolished as virtually nothing but the overall shape of the old structure will be preserved.