Here’s a bit of information about this theater that I found on the web site of Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs (though it’s only in a Google cache, not on the current web page.) There’s no date on the page, so I don’t know how long ago it was posted:
“Mr. [Clint] Williams has also renovated the old Brice (Pal) Theatre back to its grandeur. The theatre hosts local performers and can also be utilized a meeting facility with state-of-the-art audio/visual equipment. Adjacent to the theatre sits a small coffee shop which once functioned as a dentist office and apartment many years ago. With recent renovations, it is a meeting place for local residents for morning coffee or Saturday night music gatherings.”
Probably another operation hanging by a thread, then. I hope they manage to find a ladder.
I’ve also come across references to a Brice Cinema (presumably owned by the same Mr. Brice who owned the Pal) at 1101 E. First Street in Vidalia, but I haven’t found out any details except that it’s closed, and that the building was renovated in 1969 with plans by Savannah architect Allan H. Eitel. It’s unclear if it was already a theater that was renovated, or an existing building with some other use that was converted into a theater.
Apparently the Sweet Onion Cinemas (which has instantly become one of my favorite theater names ever), with five screens, is the only movie theater now operating in Vidalia.
Here is a still from the 1959 movie A Bucket of Blood, with a view of Third Street west from a point on Hope Street above the Third Street tunnel’s west portal. The Tunnel Theatre building is just right of center at the bottom. By 1959 the theater was no longer in operation, and the facade had lost the ornate detailing it still had in William Reagh’s 1940 photo, but it can be recognized by the tall arch that had been its entrance. The shot is dark and a bit blurry, but it gives the best view of the Tunnel Theatre I’ve seen yet.
The Pal Theatre web site is now at this URL, but it looks like hasn’t been updated for at least a few months, and possibly for more than a year. The “Upcoming Events” section has dates listed for October, November and December, but no year listed, so they could be from 2011 or even 2010. It doesn’t list any movies at all.
It also gives different telephone numbers from the one listed in our “phone numbers” field above, but I haven’t called them as it would be a long distance call for me. Maybe someone local (or with Internet phone service) could check them to see if the numbers are even connected. The theater might have shut down.
This web page (which I think might be the one vastor linked to, but the URL has apparently been changed, and the Mystery photo he mentioned is now at the bottom of the page) says that there were two theaters in Memphis called the Bijou, and neither one was at 275 S. Main (the Bijou is the second theater listed on the page, so is very near the top.)
The first Bijou (the one in the photo currently heading this page) was listed as the Auditorium, at 272-282 S. Main, in directories starting in 1894, and is listed as the Bijou, SE corner of Linden and Main in directories from 1904 to 1911, when the building burned down. (The destruction of the Bijou by fire is also mentioned in a 1912 book called Standard History of Memphis, Tennessee From a Study of the Original Sources, edited by Judge J. P, Young.)
The second Bijou was listed at 146 S. Main only in a 1922 directory, but the web page says it was opened about 1918 and closed around 1940. This might have been the house that Chuck found listed as a “Negro Theatre.” However, I found a list of theater fires in 1913 compiled by the journal Safety Engineering, and it listed a fire at the Bijou Theatre in Memphis on June 4 that year. Possibly the second Bijou opened before 1918, or perhaps the house that opened around 1918 was the third of the name.
Other sources indicate that the Chisca Hotel was built on the site of the first Bijou in 1913. The address of the Chisca is 272 S. Main, but I think the correct address of the Bijou was probably 270 S. Main.
On June 8, 9, and 10, 1909, an organization called United Confederate Veterans held its nineteenth annual meeting and reunion at the Bijou Theatre in Memphis. The minutes were published in a book, which includes a small photo of the theater. A scan is available from Google Books at this link (you might have to scroll a bit to see the photo.) In this photo, the building next door to the right (south) displays the address 272, which is what makes me think the original Bijou was probably at 270 S. Main.
A photo of the Bijou which appears to be identical to the one currently at the top of this Cinema Treasures page was published in the April, 1906, issue of the Monthly Journal of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (Google Books scan here.) The adjacent text, which is about Hawaii, has nothing to do with the photo. Scroll up a bit in the scan to see a photo of the second Lyceum Theatre as well.
The March, 1906, issue of The Bridgemen’s Magazine published a brief item datelined Memphis saying: “The Wells Amusement Co. intends rebuilding the Bijou Theatre, at a cost of $125,000.” I don’t know if this was done or not. The front looks pretty much the same in the 1909 photo I linked to as it does in the photo published in April, 1906. Perhaps there was some reconstruction but it didn’t affect the facade.
The Bijou is listed in the 1906-07 edition of Julius Chan’s guide as having 2000 seats, so it was one of Memphis' major theaters. I’ve found no indication that it ever operated as a regular movie house, but the web page I linked to at the beginning of this comment said that, as the Auditorium, the house presented the first exhibit of the Cinematograph in Memphis in 1897.
I wonder if this theater could have been in the building that is now the Dinuba Lanes Bowling Center, at 250 S. L Street? It occupies three old buildings, but at the rear of the northernmost building is a taller section that could have been a stage house.
Here is a larger version of the photo drb linked to. The movie on the marquee, George White’s Scandals with Joan Davis and Jack Haley, was released in 1945.
This web page features a late 1940s photo of 6th Street with the Beaumont Theatre at the center. Comparing it to current Street View, the front has been substantially altered.
An article in a 2003 issue of the newsletter of Fullerton Heritage (PDF here) about Riverside architect G. Stanley Wilson, who designed Fullerton’s City Hall, attributes the design of the Lake Elsinore Theatre to him. Wilson is also noted as architect of a theater at Lake Elsinore in the November 7, 1924, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor.
The Boulevard Theatre was opened by Carl and Joyce Amundson in 1955, and was located on Elk Grove Boulevard near Williamson Drive. It was later renamed the Elk Theatre. I believe the building has been demolished, but I’m not positive.
The Temple Theatre was listed at 300-302 Petoskey Street in a 1926 directory, and could be the same Temple Theater mentioned in the July 29, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. The item concerned Norman J. Feldman, former manager of the Temple, who had just become manager of the new Palace Theater on Howard Street.
The Temple might have been one of the theaters owned by F. M. Cory, whose obituary in the April, 1916, issue of the trade journal The Grand Rapids Furniture Record said that, in addition to his furniture business, Mr. Cory had operated three movie theaters in Petoskey, the first of which he had opened in 1908.
In addition to its page for the Gaslight Cinemas, Water Winter Wonderland has this page featuring a photo of the house as the Temple Theatre. It gives the location as Lake Street, but the theater was on Petoskey at the corner of Lake.
The September 9, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the Washington Theatre:
“Richmond, Ind.—A new theater, to be known as the Washington, will be opened in Richmond within the next few weeks. The men who are back of the project are Dr. Charles E. Duffln, H. H. Englebert and Clarence Finney. Roy Parks, who recently severed his connections with the Arcade theater, probably will manage the new house.”
The house was remodeled and converted to movies before being renamed the Washington, though. The March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had said that the remodeled and redecorated Gennett Theatre in Richmond had reopened with “Birth of a Nation” as its first attraction.
Until the exact address can be found, the location of this theater should be changed to N. 8th and N. A Streets (the theater faced 8th Street, but the real estate office now on the site uses an A Street address.) Richmond has multiple streets of the same number and letter, with the result that Google Maps is putting the pin icon at NW A Street and NW 8th Street, over a mile west of the theater’s actual location. I’ve updated Street View to the correct location, but the map pin is currently still at the wrong spot.
David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters lists the Murray Theatre as a 1919 project, and gives it the AKA Kay Theatre, presumably its opening name.
The book Kay County’s Historic Architecture, by Bret A. Carter, says that the Murray Theatre was located on Grand Avenue. Puzzling over some old photos, I’ve concluded that the Murray Theatre was at the location now occupied by a retail store, Merrifield Office & School Supply, at 206 E. Grand Avenue. The building is probably the same one the theater was in, but if so the front has been remodeled beyond recognition.
This photo (at the WorthPoint collectibles site, so the URL might go dead at some point) shows the Murray Theatre on the right. The building to the right of the theater still stands, and its band of six windows on the second floor is easily recognizable, as is the distinctive parapet of a building across the street.
A 1939 guide book to New York lists this house as the New Chatham Square Theatre, and says that it was showing Chinese language movies after 11:00 PM. It was one of fifteen foreign language movie theaters listed for Manhattan, and was the only one featuring Chinese films.
The December 13, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this item: “R. Goelet, 9 West 17th Street, will alter a loft building into a modern moving picture building, to cost $7,000. S. Kotinsky, 5 Chatham Square, is the lessee.” It’s unclear from the wording whether the new theater was actually at 5 Chatham Square. Possibly Mr. Kotinsky was already operating a theater at that address, and was opening another one elsewhere.
The July 8, 1915, issue of The New York Times said that the Reliable Investment Company, headed by Joseph Weinstock, had leased the property at 31 Park Row from the Jay Gould estate, and on expiration of the lease of the current tenants (on May 1, 1916) intended to replace the existing building with a moving picture theater.
I’m not sure if the original building, which dated from 1881 or 1882, was ultimately demolished, or was merely remodeled. However, plans for altering the City Hall Theatre building were filed in 1922, according to the February 4 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. Architect Louis A. Sheinart was responsible for the plans, which included removing an existing wall, installing a new wall, beams, seats, stairs, and a marquee. A bowling alley was also mentioned as part of the project.
On April 22, 1919, the NYC Board of Appeals reversed a decision by the superintendent of buildings and allowed H. G. Wiseman to apply for a permit to build a theater on the northeast corner of Avenue Q and E. 12th Street in Brooklyn, which is the Triangle’s location. Architect Wiseman was applying on behalf of the owner of the proposed theater, James P. Kelly.
Assuming that the project was carried out in 1919, presumably Carlson & Wiseman designed the theater. Although an earlier comment by Warren G. Harris says that the Triangle was opened by the Century circuit in 1936, Google Street View shows that the side of the building along 12th Street, which has not been remodeled like the Quentin Road facade, is built with a type of brickwork characteristic of the 1920s and earlier, not the 1930s or 1940s.
It’s possible that the theater was built in 1919 and operated for a while, but was closed for some time before being reopened by Century in 1936. If someone has access to Brooklyn directories from the early 1920s they might find the house listed, perhaps under a different name, and probably with an Avenue Q address.
Minutes of a December 21, 1920, meeting of the NYC Board of Appeals reveal that the theater at 650 Tremont Avenue was designed by architect Eugene De Rosa.
The September 6, 1913, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide said that architect L. F. Schillinger was taking bids for a brick motion picture theater to be built for Edward Butt and Henry Freise. The 45x113-foot building was to be on the south side of Fulton Street, 57 feet east of Hale Avenue. That’s the location of the Norwood Theatre, but the date doesn’t match up with the November, 1914, building permits mentioned in previous comments. If the project was delayed for a year, it’s possible that Schillinger’s original plans were abandoned.
The Webster Theatre originally had seating all on one floor. About 1919, a balcony was added. The expansion led to a demand from the city fire commissioner for increased fire protection, and architect Harry T. Howell filed an appeal with the Board of Appeals on behalf of the owners, Wardwin Realty Company, on January 16, 1920. The minutes of the meeting at which the appeal was granted include this description of the theater:
“…the building is fireproof, one story and balcony in height, 57 ft. 6 in. by 150 ft. in area, occupied as a theatre for moving pictures with 881 seats in the first story and 287 seats in the balcony, a total of 1,168 seats….”
From Google Street View, it looks like the upper portion of the building that contained the balcony has been demolished.
It looks like A. Stockhammer’s involvement in this theater project ended soon after the notice in the April issue of The American Architect was published, and the new developer, Isaac Miller, switched architects.
Minutes of a May 27, 1919, meeting of the NYC Board of Appeals say that permission was granted for a theater to be built on the property at 1408-1420 St. Johns Place, Brooklyn. The application had been made on May 5 by R. Thomas Short, on behalf of owner Isaac Miller.
The minutes of a December 9, 1919, meeting of the Board of Appeals establish that R. Thomas Short was the architect of the theater then under construction at 1408-1420 St. Johns Place.
The April 11, 1914, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide has an item that must be about this theater:
“WASHINGTON ST, e s, 27 n High st. 1-sty brick stores and moving picture show, 37x100, gravel roof: cost, $10,000 ; owner, Jacob Somers, East 3d st and Neptune av: architect, Geo.
Suess, 2966 West 29th st. Plan No. 1949.”
Cezar Del Valle’s post about the Pearl Theatre at Theatre Talks cites an April 11, 1914, Brooklyn Eagle item saying that a theater was to built on Broadway 75 feet east of Eastern Parkway for Herman Weingarten. Del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index identifies the architect as Albert Kunzi, and says the house operated as the Pearl Theatre from August, 1914, until 1929. The post includes a photo of the building that currently has the address 1903-1905 Broadway, but I don’t think the theater was in that building. I suspect that the address 1903 has been shifted to that building at some point.
The “Theatres” section of the April 11, 1914, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide has this item about the same project:
“BROADWAY, n s, 35 e Eastern Parkway, 1-sty brick moving picture show, 42.8x100, slag roof; cost, $10,000; owner, Herman Weingarten,
676 Humboldt st; architect, Albert C. Kunzi, 182
Harman st. Plan No. 1973.”
Both publications appear to have gotten the exact location of the building wrong. 1901 Broadway is west of Eastern Parkway, east of DeSalles Place. I doubt there would have been a theater east of Eastern Parkway, as a spur of the elevated railroad runs across the property at that location.
A 1919 item in The American Contractor, about another theater being built for Herman Weingarten, gives his address as 1901 Broadway. Perhaps he had his office in the Pearl Theatre at that time.
Here’s a bit of information about this theater that I found on the web site of Georgia’s Department of Community Affairs (though it’s only in a Google cache, not on the current web page.) There’s no date on the page, so I don’t know how long ago it was posted:
Here is a fairly recent photo of the Blue Marquee.Probably another operation hanging by a thread, then. I hope they manage to find a ladder.
I’ve also come across references to a Brice Cinema (presumably owned by the same Mr. Brice who owned the Pal) at 1101 E. First Street in Vidalia, but I haven’t found out any details except that it’s closed, and that the building was renovated in 1969 with plans by Savannah architect Allan H. Eitel. It’s unclear if it was already a theater that was renovated, or an existing building with some other use that was converted into a theater.
Apparently the Sweet Onion Cinemas (which has instantly become one of my favorite theater names ever), with five screens, is the only movie theater now operating in Vidalia.
Here is a still from the 1959 movie A Bucket of Blood, with a view of Third Street west from a point on Hope Street above the Third Street tunnel’s west portal. The Tunnel Theatre building is just right of center at the bottom. By 1959 the theater was no longer in operation, and the facade had lost the ornate detailing it still had in William Reagh’s 1940 photo, but it can be recognized by the tall arch that had been its entrance. The shot is dark and a bit blurry, but it gives the best view of the Tunnel Theatre I’ve seen yet.
The Pal Theatre web site is now at this URL, but it looks like hasn’t been updated for at least a few months, and possibly for more than a year. The “Upcoming Events” section has dates listed for October, November and December, but no year listed, so they could be from 2011 or even 2010. It doesn’t list any movies at all.
It also gives different telephone numbers from the one listed in our “phone numbers” field above, but I haven’t called them as it would be a long distance call for me. Maybe someone local (or with Internet phone service) could check them to see if the numbers are even connected. The theater might have shut down.
This web page (which I think might be the one vastor linked to, but the URL has apparently been changed, and the Mystery photo he mentioned is now at the bottom of the page) says that there were two theaters in Memphis called the Bijou, and neither one was at 275 S. Main (the Bijou is the second theater listed on the page, so is very near the top.)
The first Bijou (the one in the photo currently heading this page) was listed as the Auditorium, at 272-282 S. Main, in directories starting in 1894, and is listed as the Bijou, SE corner of Linden and Main in directories from 1904 to 1911, when the building burned down. (The destruction of the Bijou by fire is also mentioned in a 1912 book called Standard History of Memphis, Tennessee From a Study of the Original Sources, edited by Judge J. P, Young.)
The second Bijou was listed at 146 S. Main only in a 1922 directory, but the web page says it was opened about 1918 and closed around 1940. This might have been the house that Chuck found listed as a “Negro Theatre.” However, I found a list of theater fires in 1913 compiled by the journal Safety Engineering, and it listed a fire at the Bijou Theatre in Memphis on June 4 that year. Possibly the second Bijou opened before 1918, or perhaps the house that opened around 1918 was the third of the name.
Other sources indicate that the Chisca Hotel was built on the site of the first Bijou in 1913. The address of the Chisca is 272 S. Main, but I think the correct address of the Bijou was probably 270 S. Main.
On June 8, 9, and 10, 1909, an organization called United Confederate Veterans held its nineteenth annual meeting and reunion at the Bijou Theatre in Memphis. The minutes were published in a book, which includes a small photo of the theater. A scan is available from Google Books at this link (you might have to scroll a bit to see the photo.) In this photo, the building next door to the right (south) displays the address 272, which is what makes me think the original Bijou was probably at 270 S. Main.
A photo of the Bijou which appears to be identical to the one currently at the top of this Cinema Treasures page was published in the April, 1906, issue of the Monthly Journal of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (Google Books scan here.) The adjacent text, which is about Hawaii, has nothing to do with the photo. Scroll up a bit in the scan to see a photo of the second Lyceum Theatre as well.
The March, 1906, issue of The Bridgemen’s Magazine published a brief item datelined Memphis saying: “The Wells Amusement Co. intends rebuilding the Bijou Theatre, at a cost of $125,000.” I don’t know if this was done or not. The front looks pretty much the same in the 1909 photo I linked to as it does in the photo published in April, 1906. Perhaps there was some reconstruction but it didn’t affect the facade.
The Bijou is listed in the 1906-07 edition of Julius Chan’s guide as having 2000 seats, so it was one of Memphis' major theaters. I’ve found no indication that it ever operated as a regular movie house, but the web page I linked to at the beginning of this comment said that, as the Auditorium, the house presented the first exhibit of the Cinematograph in Memphis in 1897.
The Liberty Theatre has been demolished.
I wonder if this theater could have been in the building that is now the Dinuba Lanes Bowling Center, at 250 S. L Street? It occupies three old buildings, but at the rear of the northernmost building is a taller section that could have been a stage house.
Here is a larger version of the photo drb linked to. The movie on the marquee, George White’s Scandals with Joan Davis and Jack Haley, was released in 1945.
This web page features a late 1940s photo of 6th Street with the Beaumont Theatre at the center. Comparing it to current Street View, the front has been substantially altered.
The “Images of America” series book Indio, by Patricia Baker Laflin, says that the Aladdin Theatre opened in June, 1948.
An article in a 2003 issue of the newsletter of Fullerton Heritage (PDF here) about Riverside architect G. Stanley Wilson, who designed Fullerton’s City Hall, attributes the design of the Lake Elsinore Theatre to him. Wilson is also noted as architect of a theater at Lake Elsinore in the November 7, 1924, issue of Southwest Builder & Contractor.
The Boulevard Theatre was opened by Carl and Joyce Amundson in 1955, and was located on Elk Grove Boulevard near Williamson Drive. It was later renamed the Elk Theatre. I believe the building has been demolished, but I’m not positive.
The Temple Theatre was listed at 300-302 Petoskey Street in a 1926 directory, and could be the same Temple Theater mentioned in the July 29, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. The item concerned Norman J. Feldman, former manager of the Temple, who had just become manager of the new Palace Theater on Howard Street.
The Temple might have been one of the theaters owned by F. M. Cory, whose obituary in the April, 1916, issue of the trade journal The Grand Rapids Furniture Record said that, in addition to his furniture business, Mr. Cory had operated three movie theaters in Petoskey, the first of which he had opened in 1908.
In addition to its page for the Gaslight Cinemas, Water Winter Wonderland has this page featuring a photo of the house as the Temple Theatre. It gives the location as Lake Street, but the theater was on Petoskey at the corner of Lake.
The September 9, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had an item about the Washington Theatre:
The house was remodeled and converted to movies before being renamed the Washington, though. The March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World had said that the remodeled and redecorated Gennett Theatre in Richmond had reopened with “Birth of a Nation” as its first attraction.Until the exact address can be found, the location of this theater should be changed to N. 8th and N. A Streets (the theater faced 8th Street, but the real estate office now on the site uses an A Street address.) Richmond has multiple streets of the same number and letter, with the result that Google Maps is putting the pin icon at NW A Street and NW 8th Street, over a mile west of the theater’s actual location. I’ve updated Street View to the correct location, but the map pin is currently still at the wrong spot.
David and Noelle’s list of known Boller Brothers theaters lists the Murray Theatre as a 1919 project, and gives it the AKA Kay Theatre, presumably its opening name.
The book Kay County’s Historic Architecture, by Bret A. Carter, says that the Murray Theatre was located on Grand Avenue. Puzzling over some old photos, I’ve concluded that the Murray Theatre was at the location now occupied by a retail store, Merrifield Office & School Supply, at 206 E. Grand Avenue. The building is probably the same one the theater was in, but if so the front has been remodeled beyond recognition.
This photo (at the WorthPoint collectibles site, so the URL might go dead at some point) shows the Murray Theatre on the right. The building to the right of the theater still stands, and its band of six windows on the second floor is easily recognizable, as is the distinctive parapet of a building across the street.
The Internet Broadway Database has a page for Cinema 49 with a single photo.
A 1939 guide book to New York lists this house as the New Chatham Square Theatre, and says that it was showing Chinese language movies after 11:00 PM. It was one of fifteen foreign language movie theaters listed for Manhattan, and was the only one featuring Chinese films.
The December 13, 1913, issue of The Moving Picture World ran this item: “R. Goelet, 9 West 17th Street, will alter a loft building into a modern moving picture building, to cost $7,000. S. Kotinsky, 5 Chatham Square, is the lessee.” It’s unclear from the wording whether the new theater was actually at 5 Chatham Square. Possibly Mr. Kotinsky was already operating a theater at that address, and was opening another one elsewhere.
The July 8, 1915, issue of The New York Times said that the Reliable Investment Company, headed by Joseph Weinstock, had leased the property at 31 Park Row from the Jay Gould estate, and on expiration of the lease of the current tenants (on May 1, 1916) intended to replace the existing building with a moving picture theater.
I’m not sure if the original building, which dated from 1881 or 1882, was ultimately demolished, or was merely remodeled. However, plans for altering the City Hall Theatre building were filed in 1922, according to the February 4 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. Architect Louis A. Sheinart was responsible for the plans, which included removing an existing wall, installing a new wall, beams, seats, stairs, and a marquee. A bowling alley was also mentioned as part of the project.
On April 22, 1919, the NYC Board of Appeals reversed a decision by the superintendent of buildings and allowed H. G. Wiseman to apply for a permit to build a theater on the northeast corner of Avenue Q and E. 12th Street in Brooklyn, which is the Triangle’s location. Architect Wiseman was applying on behalf of the owner of the proposed theater, James P. Kelly.
Assuming that the project was carried out in 1919, presumably Carlson & Wiseman designed the theater. Although an earlier comment by Warren G. Harris says that the Triangle was opened by the Century circuit in 1936, Google Street View shows that the side of the building along 12th Street, which has not been remodeled like the Quentin Road facade, is built with a type of brickwork characteristic of the 1920s and earlier, not the 1930s or 1940s.
It’s possible that the theater was built in 1919 and operated for a while, but was closed for some time before being reopened by Century in 1936. If someone has access to Brooklyn directories from the early 1920s they might find the house listed, perhaps under a different name, and probably with an Avenue Q address.
Minutes of a December 21, 1920, meeting of the NYC Board of Appeals reveal that the theater at 650 Tremont Avenue was designed by architect Eugene De Rosa.
The September 6, 1913, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide said that architect L. F. Schillinger was taking bids for a brick motion picture theater to be built for Edward Butt and Henry Freise. The 45x113-foot building was to be on the south side of Fulton Street, 57 feet east of Hale Avenue. That’s the location of the Norwood Theatre, but the date doesn’t match up with the November, 1914, building permits mentioned in previous comments. If the project was delayed for a year, it’s possible that Schillinger’s original plans were abandoned.
The Webster Theatre originally had seating all on one floor. About 1919, a balcony was added. The expansion led to a demand from the city fire commissioner for increased fire protection, and architect Harry T. Howell filed an appeal with the Board of Appeals on behalf of the owners, Wardwin Realty Company, on January 16, 1920. The minutes of the meeting at which the appeal was granted include this description of the theater:
From Google Street View, it looks like the upper portion of the building that contained the balcony has been demolished.It looks like A. Stockhammer’s involvement in this theater project ended soon after the notice in the April issue of The American Architect was published, and the new developer, Isaac Miller, switched architects.
Minutes of a May 27, 1919, meeting of the NYC Board of Appeals say that permission was granted for a theater to be built on the property at 1408-1420 St. Johns Place, Brooklyn. The application had been made on May 5 by R. Thomas Short, on behalf of owner Isaac Miller.
The minutes of a December 9, 1919, meeting of the Board of Appeals establish that R. Thomas Short was the architect of the theater then under construction at 1408-1420 St. Johns Place.
The April 11, 1914, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide has an item that must be about this theater:
Cezar Del Valle’s post about the Pearl Theatre at Theatre Talks cites an April 11, 1914, Brooklyn Eagle item saying that a theater was to built on Broadway 75 feet east of Eastern Parkway for Herman Weingarten. Del Valle’s Brooklyn Theatre Index identifies the architect as Albert Kunzi, and says the house operated as the Pearl Theatre from August, 1914, until 1929. The post includes a photo of the building that currently has the address 1903-1905 Broadway, but I don’t think the theater was in that building. I suspect that the address 1903 has been shifted to that building at some point.
The “Theatres” section of the April 11, 1914, issue of Real Estate Record and Builders Guide has this item about the same project:
Both publications appear to have gotten the exact location of the building wrong. 1901 Broadway is west of Eastern Parkway, east of DeSalles Place. I doubt there would have been a theater east of Eastern Parkway, as a spur of the elevated railroad runs across the property at that location.A 1919 item in The American Contractor, about another theater being built for Herman Weingarten, gives his address as 1901 Broadway. Perhaps he had his office in the Pearl Theatre at that time.