Modern Theatre
523-25 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
523-25 Washington Street,
Boston,
MA
02111
10 people
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Who knows, Rex?
Many of the multi-plex theatres are in serious trouble. Who knows what’ll happen to the AMC/ Boston Common Theatre?
Construction work began yesterday, Nov. 20. Suffolk University hopes to have the building open in 2010. They call it “The Modern Theatre and Residence Hall”. The “dorm tower” will have 200 beds. There was a photo taken yesterday in front of the theater published in the Boston Herald today.
Today’s Boston Herald has a color rendition of the Modern’s facade after the work is completed. The arch above the entrance will be opened up, as it was originally. There is no marquee over the entrance.( When it opened, the Modern did not have a marquee, that came later.) The text with the drawing says that Suffolk Construction Co. won a $29M contract from Suffolk University. They will “renovate the facade” and “build a 12-story, 200-student dormitory”. The “new building” will contain an 800 square foot art gallery and a 2400 square foot theater on the ground floor. Total, 3200 square feet which is probably about equal to the present theater’s area. The Modern at present is about 5 or 6 stories high, so the height will double in the new building. It does not state when construction is to start, or when it will be finished.
I toured the Modern Theater probably about ‘77 or '78 after the Mayflower had closed and before its short-lived period as a performance center. It was Boston’s first theater exclusively built to show movies, and one of the first in the country.
Since it was built before the golden days of the Hollywood-style movie palace, it was quite plain inside. It had a very small “lobby,” really no bigger than an area to house a ticket booth, and the auditorium was nothing more than a long rectangular box with a gently sloping floor. There was no decoration on the walls (e.g. murals, moldings, etc.) and there had already been some water damage. Even at that time, the idea was not to restore, since there was nothing of interest to restore, but to revive it as a performance space.
At the time, I thought it might have been interesting to restore it as a silent movie theater and see silent movies in an actual era theater, but it probably wouldn’t have paid the bills.
Suffolk University has applied to take over the theater and renovate the space, much like Emerson is doing with the Paramount just a few doors down. Suffolk and Emerson are basically swallowing the entire block with a combination of new construction behind the old facades and the renovation of existing buildings. The promise is that the Modern Theatre and the Paramount will again be in operation, although as live theater venues and not movie houses.
I have heard no reports from anyone who has been inside it in recent years, but knowing of the badly leaking roof and the concerns that the building was about to collapse, I can only guess what an absolute mess the interior must be. I can’t imagine how Suffolk Univ. can accomplish their goals for this parcel and still keep the building intact.
A related question: is there really anything left of it now?
Suffolk Univ. has just received City permission to begin construction of their Modern Theatre project. When this project is finished, will there be anything left of the theatre, other than the facade ?
In the late 1970s it was an adult theatre called the Mayflower. For a short time after that, it reopened as a live stage called the Modern.
The note on the top of the page says the theater closed in 1980. Was it an adult theater by that time? I don’t remember this theater playing films in the 70’s…
Nice to know that it will be somehow salvaged like the Paramount as an entertainment/culture center and not office space.
Hope to see it up and running in my lifetime…
You should read some of the stories in the LA Times in the early part of the twentieth century. The projectionists were always leaping out of the booth after the film burst into flames. It was a hazardous job.
Someone who worked as a projectionist at the Mayflower in the 1960s told me that in order to access the booth it was necessary to go to the rear of the theatre and climb up to an attic space above the auditorium ceiling, cross the attic on a catwalk, then climb down into the booth. He felt that in the event of a serious fire the projectionist’s chance of getting out alive was slim to none !
According to a short report in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of Oct.4th, the BRA has approved Suffolk Univ. as developer of the Modern Theatre. There will be a 12-story building with dorm rooms for up to 200 students. The ground floor will have cultural uses: an 800 sq. ft. art gallery, and a 2400 sq. ft. theatre. The Modern’s facade will be preserved at the front of the building. The news report does not state when work will begin.
According to the Sept. ‘07 Boston Playbill (I got it at “Wicked – the musical” today) Suffolk has indicated they envisioned a mixed-use facility with possibilities including theatre/art gallery/performance space on the first floor, as well as additional student housing. They recently bought the building next door to renovate into a dormitory (building next to that is already under renovation).
Their bid has been submitted (and the deadline passed 8/30). Hopefully soon the Boston RDA will announce the winning bidder.
The Boston Herald reported today that Suffolk Univ. has prepared a proposal for the Modern Th. for submission to the Boston Redevel. Authority.
The Beacon Hill Times of June 12 2007 has a short article, with facade photo of the Modern, reporting that Suffolk University may have an interest in acquiring the Modern/Mayflower Theatre. The University has recently taken over other buildings in the vicinity of the Modern. Possible uses are as a performing arts facility, a “black-box” theatre, or as an art gallery. The article points out that the Boston Redevelopment Authority, which owns the Modern, has not yet received a proposal from Suffolk.
An exterior pic – taken in 2000 – here:–
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Anyone know what’s happening with this space? I walked by the theater on Friday, and it looks like there may be some renovations happening there. Wondering if it’s going to reopen like the Opera House.
This 1928 map shows at least 11 downtown Boston theatres. West is at the top of this map.
The MODERN THEATRE is on the west side of Washington Street, just south of West Street. Behind it is the much larger B.F. KEITH MEMORIAL THEATRE, now called the Opera House.
I saw movies a few times in the Mayflower in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was an ATC house and shared newspaper ad space with the Pilgrim. It had a tiny foyer, and a narrow auditorium with balcony. I understand that the seating capacity was 741. The arch in the facade was originally open, not closed in as it is today. The alley on the left side of the theatre led to the 3rd balcony entrance of hthe Boston Theatre in the old days. The Modern was carved out of space in an 1876 building. It was indeed a live theatre circa 1979-80 or so; and later in the 1980s it served as garage for push-cart vendors, a role which it shared with the stage of the nearby RKO Boston.
I don’t think the Sack 57 had been built yet by 1968. However, Sack presented first runs at the nearby Gary and Saxon, as well as the (first) Beacon Hill and Music Hall.
By the late ‘60’s, none of those downtown theatres were high grossers. Probably the best film played the Cheri, Music Hall, Charles, and Sack 57. It’s too bad grossing information is probably impossible to get, as it would show how downtown declined in those years.
The 1968 Crimson article mentions that there were ten movie theatres on downtown Washington Street between the Old South Meeting House and “Michael Breen Square” (which I’ve never heard of). Besides the three sex-film houses, the others were, from north to south:
Loew’s Orpheum, a first-run house
Savoy, a Sack first-run house
Paramount, a General Cinema first-run house
Boston Cinerama, which needs no further explanation
Publix, probably showing second- or third-run double features
Center, probably showing second- or third-run double features
Stuart, probably showing second- or third-run double-features
By the way, the Mayflower was always outside the city’s official boundary for the Combat Zone.
Thanks for researching the details on that incident. The combat zone described in the 1968 article from MIT, was certainly a far more dangerous place than those writers described, not quite the chic place to go “slumming”. The Puopolo murder hammered that home to any suburbanites who may have had lingering ideas on the advisability of going downtown for a movie. Of course, as things changed and the combat zone disappeared, the nostalgia for an old movie palace has come back. It’s too bad the buildings couldn’t sustain the years of declining business just a few years longer. Ironically, the porn industry probably helped those theatres stay open a few years longer, once the booking patterns changed in the late ‘60s.
The incident you refer to occurred on November 16, 1976. Andrew Puopolo, a Harvard football player, was stabbed by a pimp in the Combat Zone. A second Harvard student was injured in the same fight. After a month-long coma, Puopolo died on December 17, 1976.
This was the beginning of the end for the Combat Zone.
The Harvard Crimson archives have many articles about this.