According to David Guss’s excellent Lost Theatres of Somerville website (which I highly recommend), “the First Universalist Church was built on land donated in 1854 by Charles Tufts, just two years after he gave twenty acres to establish the university. The original wooden structure was replaced by a brick one after burning down in 1869.”
In the Boston Globe archives, I find an article from September 6, 1982:
“A five-alarm fire, with flames that could be seen for miles by motorists on the nearby Massachusetts Turnpike, engulfed a nearly empty row of businesses in Newton Corner last night.
More than 20 companies from Newton and surrounding communities responded to the blaze that tore through the block of Washington street between Bacon and Centre streets.
A few filmgoers at the Paramount Theater, the only business operating in the block of vacant storefronts and apartments, were evacuated as a precautionary measure, but flames did not touch the movie house. Other properties had been vacated last Wednesday, and the block was scheduled for demolition to make way for an office building."
So I’d guess the theatre closed and was demolished soon after this fire. The description would put the theatre on the north side of Newton Corner — not Newton Centre.
This 1928 map shows the Copley Theatre at its new location on Stuart Street. There is not yet an entrance on Huntington Avenue; that apparently came later.
A photo of the Teele Square Theatre, from David Guss’s “Lost Theatres of Somerville” website. David will eventually add more material about this theatre.
WCRB radio is having a Classical Cartoon Festival here next Saturday. They’ve been doing this for eight years now, yet I never knew about it before today.
I just hope it isn’t the last one; WCRB radio is for sale.
The Boston Opera House is visible on this 1917 map. It is near the middle of the map, at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Opera Place. Just west of it is the large storage warehouse mentioned above.
I highly recommend this — both for the films themselves, and for the increasingly rare experience of visiting a small, family-run, suburban single-screen theatre.
The Colonial Theatre is near the top right of this 1928 map. one building west of the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets.
The two buildings on either side, the Little and the Walker, are now also owned by Emerson College, as is the Majestic Theatre on the other side of narrow Van Rensselaer Place. The adjoining Plymouth Theatre was demolished in 1978; a few years ago, yet another Emerson College building rose on part of its site, containing two small live stages.
This 1917 map shows the Copley Theatre in its original Dartmouth Street location, before it was moved to Stuart Street.
To find it, look at the top of the map, in the middle of the bottom (west) side of Dartmouth Street, between Huntington Avenue and the railroad tracks.
Right above it, on the other side of Dartmouth, you’ll see a small unmarked street. That is Stuart Street. When this street was later extended west to Huntington Avenue, the Copley Theatre was right in the way. That is why it had to be moved.
Thanks for adding this one. I had thought about doing it myself, but wasn’t sure it had shown movies.
You can see the Boston Theatre near the top left of this 1895 map, in the middle of the block bounded by Washington, West, Mason, and Avery streets. It immediately adjoins Keith’s New Theatre and the Bijou Opera House.
On this 1928 map, the Boston Theatre has been replaced on the same site by the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre. The Keith Memorial appears to have a slightly larger footprint (along Mason Street) than the Boston Theatre did.
Immediately after the old Boston Theatre closed, a new Keith-Albee Boston Theatre opened as a replacement, two blocks to the south and on the other side of Washington street. You can see this theatre as well on the 1928 map, as part of the Washington-Essex Building bounded by Washington St, Essex St, Harrison Ave, and Hayward Place. The Keith-Albee Boston was later renamed to “RKO Boston”.
One correction: if the old Boston Theatre’s last show was on October 4, 1925, then it could not have been torn down “in the spring of 1925”.
The article says that last weekend’s Sir Peter Hall production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Lynn Redgrave, would not have played Columbus were it not for the Southern.
It appears that many theatres have been deleted from this site in the last few days. I can no longer find any in my hometown of Somerville, MA, nor any in Ohio.
“Preservationists researching Liberty Theater [in Youngstown] said it may be the oldest surviving downtown movie house in Ohio. Designed by Detroit architect C. Howard Crane, Liberty Theater opened in 1918 and closed in the late 1970s. It now sits abandoned.”
This isn’t correct. The Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus opened in 1896, closed in 1979, and was restored and reopened in 1998. I don’t know if the Southern is the oldest, either, but it’s older than the Liberty.
The photo that Ron Salters describes above is the first one displayed here.
According to David Guss’s excellent Lost Theatres of Somerville website (which I highly recommend), “the First Universalist Church was built on land donated in 1854 by Charles Tufts, just two years after he gave twenty acres to establish the university. The original wooden structure was replaced by a brick one after burning down in 1869.”
In the Boston Globe archives, I find an article from September 6, 1982:
“A five-alarm fire, with flames that could be seen for miles by motorists on the nearby Massachusetts Turnpike, engulfed a nearly empty row of businesses in Newton Corner last night.
More than 20 companies from Newton and surrounding communities responded to the blaze that tore through the block of Washington street between Bacon and Centre streets.
A few filmgoers at the Paramount Theater, the only business operating in the block of vacant storefronts and apartments, were evacuated as a precautionary measure, but flames did not touch the movie house. Other properties had been vacated last Wednesday, and the block was scheduled for demolition to make way for an office building."
So I’d guess the theatre closed and was demolished soon after this fire. The description would put the theatre on the north side of Newton Corner — not Newton Centre.
I remember seeing this theatre advertised up until at least the late 1970s. Is it still standing? What was its address?
The Universalist Church is visible on this 1884 map, at the corner of Cross and Tufts streets, next to the Boston and Lowell Rail Road tracks.
This 1928 map shows the Copley Theatre at its new location on Stuart Street. There is not yet an entrance on Huntington Avenue; that apparently came later.
I have no news to report about this theatre, but here are some recent photos.
A photo of the Teele Square Theatre, from David Guss’s “Lost Theatres of Somerville” website. David will eventually add more material about this theatre.
Two recent photos of the Cameo. (Scroll down to “Post #9”.)
Two recent photos of Loring Hall
Some recent photos of the (still-closed) Wollaston Theatre
Wow! This is great news!
WCRB radio is having a Classical Cartoon Festival here next Saturday. They’ve been doing this for eight years now, yet I never knew about it before today.
I just hope it isn’t the last one; WCRB radio is for sale.
Sarah Caldwell, founder and director of the Opera Company of Boston, died last Thursday night at 82.
The site now contains Speare Hall, a Northeastern University dormitory.
From a Northeastern University online magazine: Operatic Intrigue: The Comic, Tragic, True Tale of Opera on Huntington Avenue, by NU professor Harlow Robinson,
The Boston Opera House is visible on this 1917 map. It is near the middle of the map, at the corner of Huntington Avenue and Opera Place. Just west of it is the large storage warehouse mentioned above.
yes
I highly recommend this — both for the films themselves, and for the increasingly rare experience of visiting a small, family-run, suburban single-screen theatre.
Here’s the CinemaTreasures page for Studio Cinema.
This page has some history of the Colonial Theatre, but no mention of movies.
More history and architecture
The Colonial Theatre is near the top right of this 1928 map. one building west of the corner of Boylston and Tremont streets.
The two buildings on either side, the Little and the Walker, are now also owned by Emerson College, as is the Majestic Theatre on the other side of narrow Van Rensselaer Place. The adjoining Plymouth Theatre was demolished in 1978; a few years ago, yet another Emerson College building rose on part of its site, containing two small live stages.
This 1917 map shows the Copley Theatre in its original Dartmouth Street location, before it was moved to Stuart Street.
To find it, look at the top of the map, in the middle of the bottom (west) side of Dartmouth Street, between Huntington Avenue and the railroad tracks.
Right above it, on the other side of Dartmouth, you’ll see a small unmarked street. That is Stuart Street. When this street was later extended west to Huntington Avenue, the Copley Theatre was right in the way. That is why it had to be moved.
Thanks for adding this one. I had thought about doing it myself, but wasn’t sure it had shown movies.
You can see the Boston Theatre near the top left of this 1895 map, in the middle of the block bounded by Washington, West, Mason, and Avery streets. It immediately adjoins Keith’s New Theatre and the Bijou Opera House.
On this 1928 map, the Boston Theatre has been replaced on the same site by the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre. The Keith Memorial appears to have a slightly larger footprint (along Mason Street) than the Boston Theatre did.
Immediately after the old Boston Theatre closed, a new Keith-Albee Boston Theatre opened as a replacement, two blocks to the south and on the other side of Washington street. You can see this theatre as well on the 1928 map, as part of the Washington-Essex Building bounded by Washington St, Essex St, Harrison Ave, and Hayward Place. The Keith-Albee Boston was later renamed to “RKO Boston”.
One correction: if the old Boston Theatre’s last show was on October 4, 1925, then it could not have been torn down “in the spring of 1925”.
Last Sunday’s Columbus Dispatch has an article on this theatre:
Versatile Southern offers great space for any show
The article says that last weekend’s Sir Peter Hall production of The Importance of Being Earnest, starring Lynn Redgrave, would not have played Columbus were it not for the Southern.
It appears that many theatres have been deleted from this site in the last few days. I can no longer find any in my hometown of Somerville, MA, nor any in Ohio.
The second article says:
“Preservationists researching Liberty Theater [in Youngstown] said it may be the oldest surviving downtown movie house in Ohio. Designed by Detroit architect C. Howard Crane, Liberty Theater opened in 1918 and closed in the late 1970s. It now sits abandoned.”
This isn’t correct. The Southern Theatre in downtown Columbus opened in 1896, closed in 1979, and was restored and reopened in 1998. I don’t know if the Southern is the oldest, either, but it’s older than the Liberty.