I know nothing about Lewiston, but I bet people would be making a lot bigger fuss if the Empire’s façade still looked like the photo on the left. What’s the interior like these days?
Yesterday’s edition of the Emerson College student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, goes into more detail on Emerson’s plans. Unfortunately, the article is not on the Beacon’s web site. I’ve written to them and asked them to put the article online so I can link to it.
The Beacon article says that both the 450-seat and 125-seat theatres will go into the Paramount Theater building. The Bijou building (which the article calls the “Arcade building”) will become a 250-bed dormitory, and will include a restaurant, open to the public, at street level.
A new “performance development building”, to be constructed on the “vacant lot behind the Paramount”, will contain rehearsal spaces, individual and small-group practice rooms, and offices for performing arts department faculty and staff.
The interiors of the Paramount and Arcade buildings will be renovated, but Emerson will preserve both façades.
Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston and theatre consultants Auerbach, Pollack, Friedlander of New York are designing the Paramount Center. This is the same team that oversaw restoration of Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre and construction of the school’s new Tufte Performance and Production Center.
Yesterday’s edition of the Emerson College student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, goes into more detail on Emerson’s plans. Unfortunately, the article is not on the Beacon’s web site. I’ve written to them and asked them to put the article online so I can link to it.
The Beacon article says that both the 450-seat and 125-seat theatres will go into the Paramount Theater building. The Bijou building (which the article calls the “Arcade building”) will become a 250-bed dormitory, and will include a restaurant, open to the public, at street level.
A new “performance development building”, to be constructed on the “vacant lot behind the Paramount”, will contain rehearsal spaces, individual and small-group practice rooms, and offices for performing arts department faculty and staff.
The interiors of the Paramount and Arcade buildings will be renovated, but Emerson will preserve both façades.
Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston and theatre consultants Auerbach, Pollack, Friedlander of New York are designing the Paramount Center. This is the same team that oversaw restoration of Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre and construction of the school’s new Tufte Performance and Production Center.
This doesn’t appear to be a chain-wide policy, since today’s (Friday) Boston Globe lists shows starting at 10:50 am at Loews Boston Common (the rough equivalent of your E-Walk), 10:55 am at Loews Fresh Pond in Cambridge, 11 am at Loews Assembly Square in Somerville, 10:20 am at Loews Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, and 10:55 am at Loews “The Loop” in Methuen.
Since Boston isn’t a 24-hour town, we’ve never had regularly scheduled post-11pm shows Sundays through Thursdays.
I visited the mall one more time tonight. The temporary walls around the construction zone have been painted bright red, with this lettering on them in white:
[b]BARNEYS
NEW YORK
SPRING 2006
TASTE LUXURY HUMOR[/b]
In this 1945 photo (described here), look closely at the sign between the Paramount and RKO Keith’s marquees. At the top of the sign, you can barely see the words “New Normandie” — which is what this theatre was called by then. I wish I could read the rest of the sign, which presumably advertises the currently playing movie.
Here’s the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. Photo is described here.
A 1945 photo of the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount. The photo is described here. It looks like someone is part way through repainting the Paramount’s vertical sign.
Sandwiched between the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount is another marquee. You can just barely see the words “New Normandie” on top of it. This is actually the firstB. F. Keith’s Theatre, which by 1945 was no longer part of the RKO-Keith circuit and had been renamed several times.
Here’s the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. Photo is described here.
Today’s Boston Globe and Herald both have official announcements that Barneys New York is coming to Copley Place. The store will be 46,000 square feet, two stories, opening in the spring of 2006. Globe article Herald article
(these links will probably work only for the next week or two)
As the Globe puts it, “Barneys cements the Back Bay mall’s transformation into an ultraupscale destination.”
From Steve Bailey’s column in today’s Boston Globe:
Kensington Place on Lower Washington Street was supposed to be the final nail in Boston’s Combat Zone, displacing the shabby Glass Slipper from its home on LaGrange Street. As they say, never mind.
The strip joint’s co-owner, Nicholas Romano, is negotiating to move across the street to a four-story building next to Centerfolds, the only other strip club left in the Zone. The deal, if completed, would bring an end to a lawsuit by the Glass Slipper challenging the proposed housing tower. The city would compensate the Glass Slipper owners for taking their club by eminent domain and for their relocation costs.
‘'We are actively working with the Glass Slipper owners to come to a favorable eminent domain solution,“ says Susan Elsbree, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. ’‘We expect they will look to keep their business in that area that is zoned for adult entertainment.” Romano didn’t return my call.
The Paramount was the only downtown Boston theatre built solely for sound movies, and therefore the only one that has never had a live performance. So it’s a bit ironic that it will be redeveloped into a performing arts center.
Here are some photos of the former side entrance on Music Hall Place, off Winter Street. This entrance is no longer used, and Music Hall Place now leads instead to The Corner Mall’s food court.
Music Hall Place, 1965: photo and description. The description says we are looking at an entrance to Gilchrist’s department store, which closed in the 1970s and was replaced by The Corner Mall.
By the way, at the far right edge of that photo, you can just barely see the gleaming white façade of the Paramount, a theatre that’s getting a lot more love these days than the Gaiety.
The “RKO Keith’s” theatre shown in both photos is now the Opera House, though if recent news reports are to be believed, it may soon be renamed the Citizens Bank Theatre.
Between the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount in both photos is a marquee and entrance for the original B. F. Keith’s Theatre, which by 1945 was no longer part of the Keith circuit and been renamed several times. In these photos, you can just barely make out the words “NEW NORMANDIE” on top of its marquee. This theatre was torn down in the early 1950s, but the entrance building still stands today.
That photo does not show the RKO Boston, which was at 614 Washington Street.
It shows the RKO Keith’s, now called the Opera House, at 539 Washington Street. That’s a half block up from the RKO Boston and on the other side of the street.
The Zoning Board of Appeal denied the March 29 appeal, as expected by everyone. There are still court cases pending, at least by the Glass Slipper and probably by others, but I’m sure they will not be heard in time to save the Gaiety. At this point, I’m not sure there is still anything here to save.
A big question that remains is whether the Cultural District zoning requires the developer to replace this theatre after demolishing it, or to make a substantial payment towards restoration of some other theatre in the Cultural District.
A photo taken last Sunday. The Gaiety/Publix is the six-story building with the boarded-up windows and scaffolding. You can still see some very faded advertising on the side wall.
I believe the two-story building in the foreground is also supposed to come down, but not yet, since the retail tenants are still operating. The Glass Slipper and Club New Orleans buildings are not visible in this photo; they would be behind the camera position and off to the left.
Here’s a 19th century photo, from when it was still the Boston Music Hall. The accompanying description is definitely in error, since it dates the photo to 1979. I’ve told the Bostonian Society of their mistake, and they are now trying to determine the photo’s correct date. They now believe it was taken some time after 1884, after the Music Hall’s organ was removed.
Dismantling of the Club New Orleans building, just west of the Glass Slipper on LaGrange Street, is well underway. A bulldozer is on the site, so I expect they’ll soon finish with this building and move on to the Gaiety. Some workers yesterday afternoon were standing on top of the Gaiety scaffolding on Washington Street, removing old retail signs and probably other stuff from the front façade.
I know nothing about Lewiston, but I bet people would be making a lot bigger fuss if the Empire’s façade still looked like the photo on the left. What’s the interior like these days?
Yesterday’s edition of the Emerson College student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, goes into more detail on Emerson’s plans. Unfortunately, the article is not on the Beacon’s web site. I’ve written to them and asked them to put the article online so I can link to it.
The Beacon article says that both the 450-seat and 125-seat theatres will go into the Paramount Theater building. The Bijou building (which the article calls the “Arcade building”) will become a 250-bed dormitory, and will include a restaurant, open to the public, at street level.
A new “performance development building”, to be constructed on the “vacant lot behind the Paramount”, will contain rehearsal spaces, individual and small-group practice rooms, and offices for performing arts department faculty and staff.
The interiors of the Paramount and Arcade buildings will be renovated, but Emerson will preserve both façades.
Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston and theatre consultants Auerbach, Pollack, Friedlander of New York are designing the Paramount Center. This is the same team that oversaw restoration of Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre and construction of the school’s new Tufte Performance and Production Center.
Yesterday’s edition of the Emerson College student newspaper, The Berkeley Beacon, goes into more detail on Emerson’s plans. Unfortunately, the article is not on the Beacon’s web site. I’ve written to them and asked them to put the article online so I can link to it.
The Beacon article says that both the 450-seat and 125-seat theatres will go into the Paramount Theater building. The Bijou building (which the article calls the “Arcade building”) will become a 250-bed dormitory, and will include a restaurant, open to the public, at street level.
A new “performance development building”, to be constructed on the “vacant lot behind the Paramount”, will contain rehearsal spaces, individual and small-group practice rooms, and offices for performing arts department faculty and staff.
The interiors of the Paramount and Arcade buildings will be renovated, but Emerson will preserve both façades.
Elkus/Manfredi Architects of Boston and theatre consultants Auerbach, Pollack, Friedlander of New York are designing the Paramount Center. This is the same team that oversaw restoration of Emerson’s Cutler Majestic Theatre and construction of the school’s new Tufte Performance and Production Center.
This doesn’t appear to be a chain-wide policy, since today’s (Friday) Boston Globe lists shows starting at 10:50 am at Loews Boston Common (the rough equivalent of your E-Walk), 10:55 am at Loews Fresh Pond in Cambridge, 11 am at Loews Assembly Square in Somerville, 10:20 am at Loews Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers, and 10:55 am at Loews “The Loop” in Methuen.
Since Boston isn’t a 24-hour town, we’ve never had regularly scheduled post-11pm shows Sundays through Thursdays.
Anyone know if the old façade is still intact behind that false front?
I visited the mall one more time tonight. The temporary walls around the construction zone have been painted bright red, with this lettering on them in white:
[b]BARNEYS
NEW YORK
SPRING 2006
TASTE LUXURY HUMOR[/b]
Anyone know what Luxury Humor tastes like?
the second one says it’s from Hampton Beach, NH — not Lewiston, Maine
In this 1945 photo (described here), look closely at the sign between the Paramount and RKO Keith’s marquees. At the top of the sign, you can barely see the words “New Normandie” — which is what this theatre was called by then. I wish I could read the rest of the sign, which presumably advertises the currently playing movie.
Here’s the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. Photo is described here.
A 1945 photo of the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount. The photo is described here. It looks like someone is part way through repainting the Paramount’s vertical sign.
Sandwiched between the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount is another marquee. You can just barely see the words “New Normandie” on top of it. This is actually the first B. F. Keith’s Theatre, which by 1945 was no longer part of the RKO-Keith circuit and had been renamed several times.
Here’s the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. Photo is described here.
Today’s Boston Globe and Herald both have official announcements that Barneys New York is coming to Copley Place. The store will be 46,000 square feet, two stories, opening in the spring of 2006.
Globe article
Herald article
(these links will probably work only for the next week or two)
As the Globe puts it, “Barneys cements the Back Bay mall’s transformation into an ultraupscale destination.”
From Steve Bailey’s column in today’s Boston Globe:
Kensington Place on Lower Washington Street was supposed to be the final nail in Boston’s Combat Zone, displacing the shabby Glass Slipper from its home on LaGrange Street. As they say, never mind.
The strip joint’s co-owner, Nicholas Romano, is negotiating to move across the street to a four-story building next to Centerfolds, the only other strip club left in the Zone. The deal, if completed, would bring an end to a lawsuit by the Glass Slipper challenging the proposed housing tower. The city would compensate the Glass Slipper owners for taking their club by eminent domain and for their relocation costs.
‘'We are actively working with the Glass Slipper owners to come to a favorable eminent domain solution,“ says Susan Elsbree, a spokeswoman for the Boston Redevelopment Authority. ’‘We expect they will look to keep their business in that area that is zoned for adult entertainment.” Romano didn’t return my call.
Please add it (and the Rialto) to this site.
I should amend the above to say something like “the only pre-1960s downtown Boston theatre built solely for sound movies.”
The Paramount was the only downtown Boston theatre built solely for sound movies, and therefore the only one that has never had a live performance. So it’s a bit ironic that it will be redeveloped into a performing arts center.
Here are some photos of the former side entrance on Music Hall Place, off Winter Street. This entrance is no longer used, and Music Hall Place now leads instead to The Corner Mall’s food court.
Music Hall Place, 1890: photo and description
Music Hall Place, 1900: photo and description
Music Hall Place, 1965: photo and description. The description says we are looking at an entrance to Gilchrist’s department store, which closed in the 1970s and was replaced by The Corner Mall.
By the way, at the far right edge of that photo, you can just barely see the gleaming white façade of the Paramount, a theatre that’s getting a lot more love these days than the Gaiety.
The photo is from 1945 and is described here.
Here’s another 1945 photo of the same scene, but taken from the opposite direction. It is described here.
The “RKO Keith’s” theatre shown in both photos is now the Opera House, though if recent news reports are to be believed, it may soon be renamed the Citizens Bank Theatre.
Between the RKO Keith’s and the Paramount in both photos is a marquee and entrance for the original B. F. Keith’s Theatre, which by 1945 was no longer part of the Keith circuit and been renamed several times. In these photos, you can just barely make out the words “NEW NORMANDIE” on top of its marquee. This theatre was torn down in the early 1950s, but the entrance building still stands today.
That photo does not show the RKO Boston, which was at 614 Washington Street.
It shows the RKO Keith’s, now called the Opera House, at 539 Washington Street. That’s a half block up from the RKO Boston and on the other side of the street.
The Zoning Board of Appeal denied the March 29 appeal, as expected by everyone. There are still court cases pending, at least by the Glass Slipper and probably by others, but I’m sure they will not be heard in time to save the Gaiety. At this point, I’m not sure there is still anything here to save.
A big question that remains is whether the Cultural District zoning requires the developer to replace this theatre after demolishing it, or to make a substantial payment towards restoration of some other theatre in the Cultural District.
A photo taken last Sunday. The Gaiety/Publix is the six-story building with the boarded-up windows and scaffolding. You can still see some very faded advertising on the side wall.
I believe the two-story building in the foreground is also supposed to come down, but not yet, since the retail tenants are still operating. The Glass Slipper and Club New Orleans buildings are not visible in this photo; they would be behind the camera position and off to the left.
Someone should update the description and photo at the top of this page, as both are now out of date.
Here’s Emerson’s official press release about the Paramount.
For a local discussion and some photos of the Paramount and its surroundings, take a look here:
ArchBoston.com forum: Emerson College to redevelop Paramount Theatre
(you’ll need to continue to page 2 of this discussion forum to see the photos)
Here’s a 19th century photo, from when it was still the Boston Music Hall. The accompanying description is definitely in error, since it dates the photo to 1979. I’ve told the Bostonian Society of their mistake, and they are now trying to determine the photo’s correct date. They now believe it was taken some time after 1884, after the Music Hall’s organ was removed.
Dismantling of the Club New Orleans building, just west of the Glass Slipper on LaGrange Street, is well underway. A bulldozer is on the site, so I expect they’ll soon finish with this building and move on to the Gaiety. Some workers yesterday afternoon were standing on top of the Gaiety scaffolding on Washington Street, removing old retail signs and probably other stuff from the front façade.
Some links in the above item are not correct. They should be:
Paramount Theater
Bijou
B.F. Keith’s
For a local discussion and some photos of the Paramount and its surroundings, take a look here:
ArchBoston.com forum: Emerson College to redevelop Paramount Theatre
(you’ll need to continue to page 2 of this discussion forum to see the photos)
Here’s Emerson’s official press release about the Paramount.