Strand Theater

Joe Vogel on August 29, 2012 at 12:17 am

The following item about an addition to and major remodeling of the Strand Theatre and Burlington Arcade appeared in an issue of Engineering News-Record in July, 1921:

“Conn., Stamford—Theatre—Emmons & Abbott, archts., Washington Bldg., receiving bids remodeling and building 3 story, 35 x 52 ft. concrete, brick and steel addition, rein.-con. flooring, concrete foundation, to Strand Theatre, Burlington Arcade. About $75,000.”

This article from the March 19, 1923, issue of The Norwalk Hour tells of a fire that partly destroyed the Burlington Arcade building in Stamford and says that it was “…adjoining the Strand theater building.” The last paragraph says that the building had once been known as the Opera House block.

This New York Times article from January 5, 2003, is about the adjacent Palace Theatre but mentions the Strand. It says that Mary Vuono rented space for the Strand in the Burlington building in 1915, and bought the adjacent property where the Palace was later built in 1920. Putting this information together with the other sources I cited suggests that the Palace site, which had once been occupied by the Grand Opera House, which burned in 1904, was the site of the 1921 project, and that it was that 1921 addition which was destroyed in the 1923 fire. The Times article says that Mary Vuono hired Thomas Lamb to design the proposed Palace Theatre in 1924, which would fit the time frame of the 1923 fire.

shoeshoe14 on November 21, 2007 at 11:55 am

The Strand opened in 1917 according to the Stamford City Directory at 71-73 Atlantic Street. In 1922 it’s known as the Strand/Burlington Arcade at the same address until 1925. Last listing is in 1951.

kencmcintyre on September 9, 2006 at 12:48 pm

Here is a 1950 photo of the Strand and the Palace:
http://tinyurl.com/qguh2