I have some photos of the surviving blue prints, and the architects indeed were Funk and Wilcox. It’s interesting, as Ron stated, this firm designed the Strand Theater, as well as the Franklin Park Theater (also in Dorchester), the Ware (aka Cabot Street Cinema) in Beverly, and the Somerville Theatre in Somerville; all of which have a similar style. The Stoughton State, on the other hand, was an atmospheric style theater which utilized an Italian theme. It would be interesting to find some original photos of the auditorium to see how the firm designed their atmospheric theatre, and how it compares to these other venus.
This building has been recently demolished. Demolition videos are available to view on the website http://www.theparktheatre.org. Fortunately the demolition of this building is for a good cause, as the land will be used for another Park Theatre.
I had a very successful event; around 40 people showed up to learn about the history of the Lawler and the Victoria. Photographs from the event are now available for view: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.462607723857074.1073741829.308110565973458&type=1
I was in the area the other day and took a look at this cool little place. From my observations, I don’t believe the auditorium portion of the building was demolished. If you walk down into the parking lot next to the building you can see the original exit doors to the auditorium on the side. Would love to see this one preserved… I wonder how much of the interior is still there?
Check out these amazing photos of when the theater first opened! ;–)
http://archive.org/stream/motionnew41moti#page/n425/mode/2up
http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n464/mode/1up
http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n465/mode/1up
Hey Philip! I live in the Boston area and that building always fascinated me. I would love to check out your pictures. Do you have an e-mail address so I can get in better touch with you? Thanks :–)
I saw that article earlier today. I knew that the theater was going to be demolished, but I was a bit shock to read that the demolition took place last year! I tried googling the demolition to see if there were any photos or even any mention of it taking place it with no luck.
The status stating the building is demolished is inaccurate. The building still stands (both the lobby portion and auditorium) and is today occupied by “Eastern Bank”. I did not visit the bank/building but it looks like the interior has been gutted and redone, removing any traces of the theater.
The library of Congress has apparently re-scanned and made High Resolution scans of their photographs of the Capitol Theater. These scans, which are Tiff images each about 20MB big, really let you blow up the image and see a lot of the architectural features (and deterioration) present in the building; something that was difficult to see in the previous JPEG images they had. Well worth a look!! Check the out:
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20ma1450&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co=hh&st=gallery&sg=true
Hopefully this will help clear up the confusion.
Up to about World War II, the Town Hall (known as the Orange Theater), was the main venue for showing movies. At some point either during World War II or after, the lease for the building/auditorium expired and was not renewed for whatever reason. The people who operated the venue at the townhall built the Orange Theater at 52 East Main Street, (directly across from the town library), in the late 1940’s. The 52 E. Main Street building still exists to this day, however it was gutted and renovated into apartments.
The Lawler Theater originally opened in 1913, the same year the town’s other theater the Victoria (later changed to Showplace), opened. The auditorium was demolished in the early 1960’s, however the lobby and part of the Foyer area was spared. It is now part of the Greenfield Grill restaurant, but any interior traces of the theater are long gone :(
The original name of the Showplace was the “Victoria”, and it was built and opened in 1913. The first name change came about in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s when it was renamed to “Showcase”. This was shortly changed to “Showplace”, as Showcase cinemas threatened a lawsuit against the owners at the time.
The Capitol Theater was built by the Goldstein Brothers and was a Colonial Atmospheric theater similar to the Greenfield Garden Theater (also built by the Goldstein Brothers). The theater opened in 1930 (a year after the Garden) and according to the Athol newspapers was much more elaborate then the Greenfield Garden. (They also stated the residents of Greenfield would be jealous of the Capitol.) This theater was a smaller non-identical sister theater to the Garden. The auditorium had the twinkling stars, cloud machines, the recreation of a new England Town on the walls, etc.. However I do not know if the town was a giant mural, similar to the Garden’s, or miniature buildings actually constructed; several articles in the Athol papers, at the time of the opening, state that a Water wheel was constructed in the auditorium. The lobby and Foyer of the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. While the Garden’s lobby & foyer were designed to look like an old new England parlor, the Capitol’s were designed to look like the interior of a covered bridge. The facade to the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. The facade was UNIQUE, very difficult to describe (imagine something similar to the Westwood Crests facade only much smaller and done over in a Colonial style). However the Capitol’s marquee and vertical sign are almost Identical to the Garden’s.
PS: Here is a link to the Garden Theater’s Cinema Treasure page:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1213
This may be slightly off topic (my apologize), but I do feel it is important as it does relate to the Greenfield Garden Theater: The Goldstein Brothers built another Colonial Atmospheric theater similar to the Garden Theater in Athol Massachusetts called the Capitol. The theater opened in 1930 (a year after the Garden) and according to the Athol newspapers was much more elaborate then the Greenfield Garden. (They also stated the residents of Greenfield would be jealous of the Capitol.) This theater was a smaller non-identical sister theater to the Garden. The auditorium had the twinkling stars, cloud machines, the recreation of a new England Town on the walls, etc.. However I do not know if the town was a giant mural, similar to the Garden’s, or miniature buildings actually constructed; several articles in the Athol papers, at the time of the opening, state that a Water wheel was constructed in the auditorium. The lobby and Foyer of the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. While the Garden’s lobby & foyer were designed to look like an old new England parlor, the Capitol’s were designed to look like the interior of a covered bridge. The facade to the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. The facade was UNIQUE, very difficult to describe (imagine something similar to the Westwood Crests facade only much smaller and done over in a Colonial style). However the Capitol’s marquee and vertical sign are almost Identical to the Garden’s.
Here is a link to the Capitol theater’s Cinema Treasures page:
http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27414
Thank you for sharing! Where did you find these photos? I’ve been looking for interior pictures of this theatre for quite some time!
The status needs to be changed to demolished. It was torn down for the casino. :–(
TaxiManSteve, What year was the auditorium demolished, and were there ever any photos of the interior published in the paper?
Unfortunately demolition has commenced on the building. :–( http://www.wickedlocal.com/article/20141215/NEWS/141217861/0/SEARCH
I have some photos of the surviving blue prints, and the architects indeed were Funk and Wilcox. It’s interesting, as Ron stated, this firm designed the Strand Theater, as well as the Franklin Park Theater (also in Dorchester), the Ware (aka Cabot Street Cinema) in Beverly, and the Somerville Theatre in Somerville; all of which have a similar style. The Stoughton State, on the other hand, was an atmospheric style theater which utilized an Italian theme. It would be interesting to find some original photos of the auditorium to see how the firm designed their atmospheric theatre, and how it compares to these other venus.
This building has been recently demolished. Demolition videos are available to view on the website http://www.theparktheatre.org. Fortunately the demolition of this building is for a good cause, as the land will be used for another Park Theatre.
I had a very successful event; around 40 people showed up to learn about the history of the Lawler and the Victoria. Photographs from the event are now available for view: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.462607723857074.1073741829.308110565973458&type=1
I was in the area the other day and took a look at this cool little place. From my observations, I don’t believe the auditorium portion of the building was demolished. If you walk down into the parking lot next to the building you can see the original exit doors to the auditorium on the side. Would love to see this one preserved… I wonder how much of the interior is still there?
Check out these amazing photos of when the theater first opened! ;–)
http://archive.org/stream/motionnew41moti#page/n425/mode/2up http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n464/mode/1up http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n465/mode/1up
Unfortunately Google Maps indicates that the site now houses a Walgreens. :–(
Hey Philip! I live in the Boston area and that building always fascinated me. I would love to check out your pictures. Do you have an e-mail address so I can get in better touch with you? Thanks :–)
This is a blog post I wrote regarding the Rialto Theatre in Leominster MA: http://movietheaterhistoryjaboschen.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html
I saw that article earlier today. I knew that the theater was going to be demolished, but I was a bit shock to read that the demolition took place last year! I tried googling the demolition to see if there were any photos or even any mention of it taking place it with no luck.
The Boston Archives has a terrific photograph of the Franklin Park theater and Blue Hill Avenue, during the late 1940’s uploaded on their flickr page.
PS-Be sure to check out that cupola on the theater!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cityofbostonarchives/6082769116/sizes/o/in/set-72157623424559329/
The status stating the building is demolished is inaccurate. The building still stands (both the lobby portion and auditorium) and is today occupied by “Eastern Bank”. I did not visit the bank/building but it looks like the interior has been gutted and redone, removing any traces of the theater.
The library of Congress has apparently re-scanned and made High Resolution scans of their photographs of the Capitol Theater. These scans, which are Tiff images each about 20MB big, really let you blow up the image and see a lot of the architectural features (and deterioration) present in the building; something that was difficult to see in the previous JPEG images they had. Well worth a look!! Check the out: http://www.loc.gov/pictures/search/?q=Photograph:%20ma1450&fi=number&op=PHRASE&va=exact&co=hh&st=gallery&sg=true
Hopefully this will help clear up the confusion. Up to about World War II, the Town Hall (known as the Orange Theater), was the main venue for showing movies. At some point either during World War II or after, the lease for the building/auditorium expired and was not renewed for whatever reason. The people who operated the venue at the townhall built the Orange Theater at 52 East Main Street, (directly across from the town library), in the late 1940’s. The 52 E. Main Street building still exists to this day, however it was gutted and renovated into apartments.
The Lawler Theater originally opened in 1913, the same year the town’s other theater the Victoria (later changed to Showplace), opened. The auditorium was demolished in the early 1960’s, however the lobby and part of the Foyer area was spared. It is now part of the Greenfield Grill restaurant, but any interior traces of the theater are long gone :(
The original name of the Showplace was the “Victoria”, and it was built and opened in 1913. The first name change came about in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s when it was renamed to “Showcase”. This was shortly changed to “Showplace”, as Showcase cinemas threatened a lawsuit against the owners at the time.
The Capitol Theater was built by the Goldstein Brothers and was a Colonial Atmospheric theater similar to the Greenfield Garden Theater (also built by the Goldstein Brothers). The theater opened in 1930 (a year after the Garden) and according to the Athol newspapers was much more elaborate then the Greenfield Garden. (They also stated the residents of Greenfield would be jealous of the Capitol.) This theater was a smaller non-identical sister theater to the Garden. The auditorium had the twinkling stars, cloud machines, the recreation of a new England Town on the walls, etc.. However I do not know if the town was a giant mural, similar to the Garden’s, or miniature buildings actually constructed; several articles in the Athol papers, at the time of the opening, state that a Water wheel was constructed in the auditorium. The lobby and Foyer of the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. While the Garden’s lobby & foyer were designed to look like an old new England parlor, the Capitol’s were designed to look like the interior of a covered bridge. The facade to the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. The facade was UNIQUE, very difficult to describe (imagine something similar to the Westwood Crests facade only much smaller and done over in a Colonial style). However the Capitol’s marquee and vertical sign are almost Identical to the Garden’s.
PS: Here is a link to the Garden Theater’s Cinema Treasure page: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/1213
This may be slightly off topic (my apologize), but I do feel it is important as it does relate to the Greenfield Garden Theater: The Goldstein Brothers built another Colonial Atmospheric theater similar to the Garden Theater in Athol Massachusetts called the Capitol. The theater opened in 1930 (a year after the Garden) and according to the Athol newspapers was much more elaborate then the Greenfield Garden. (They also stated the residents of Greenfield would be jealous of the Capitol.) This theater was a smaller non-identical sister theater to the Garden. The auditorium had the twinkling stars, cloud machines, the recreation of a new England Town on the walls, etc.. However I do not know if the town was a giant mural, similar to the Garden’s, or miniature buildings actually constructed; several articles in the Athol papers, at the time of the opening, state that a Water wheel was constructed in the auditorium. The lobby and Foyer of the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. While the Garden’s lobby & foyer were designed to look like an old new England parlor, the Capitol’s were designed to look like the interior of a covered bridge. The facade to the Capitol was quite different from the Garden. The facade was UNIQUE, very difficult to describe (imagine something similar to the Westwood Crests facade only much smaller and done over in a Colonial style). However the Capitol’s marquee and vertical sign are almost Identical to the Garden’s.
Here is a link to the Capitol theater’s Cinema Treasures page: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/27414