Harlem Grand Theatre
117 E. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10035
117 E. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10035
1 person
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: William I. Hohauser, George Mort Pollard
Functions: Church
Previous Names: Harlem Strand Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Harlem Grand Theatre shows up in advertisements as early as 1922 through 1924. It can be found in listings as operating in 1930 and 1935.
It has been alluded to in previous posts on Cinema Treasures but remained unlisted until now and may very well have been a "blacks only" house.
Previously posted on the RKO Proctor’s 125th St. Theatre page:
"Directly opposite the RKO, was a one-level plain auditorium called The Grand ("Air Cooled")which got the 2nd run of the Loew’s circuit."
Contributed by
Al Alvarez
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Recent comments (view all 12 comments)
<img src=“http://www.seanrichards.com/harlemgrand2009.jpg”>
Hi Lost Memory,
The link is working perfectly now- there was binary issue in my FTP/Upload..all corrected.
and a rather hideous looking one at that!!!!
Per Lost Memory’s prior post, the # of seats to this theater should be updated to reflect 1,432 seats. Current Use: Church
Interesting that a Pentecostal church would call itself “The Synagogue”.
Nothing that a church does surprises me anymore!
The reason why this particular church calls itself “La Sinagoga” is because their original location was in the basement of a synagogue on 109th Street between Madison and Park Avenues. It was a lot easier to say La Sinagoga instead of “Latin American Pentecostal Church” and it stuck.
Nice series of pictures you posted, nyyhec. You’re comment as to how this theater was originally operated as the Harlem Strand, should be repeated in this thread so that the site administrators know to add the AKA to this page.
In this photo, you can see how the vertical spelling out GRAND could have easily been converted from its original STRAND display, simply by replacing the first two characters at the top of the sign. Thanks for posting!
Before it was the “Grand” it used to be the “Harlem Strand Theater.” The theater operated as the Strand from 1914-1917 when its owners were sued by Mitchel H. Mark Realty Corp (owners of the Strand Theater near Times Square) for trademark infringement.
The Boxoffice article Tinseltoes linked to says that William Hohouser was the architect for the late 1930s remodeling of the Harlem Grand Theatre. The original architect of the Harlem Strand, according to From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan’s Houses of Worship, was George Mort Pollard.
Pollard also designed the Uptown Theatre at Broadway and 170th Street, and there was a theater in his most famous building, the Hotel des Artistes on Central Park West, but I don’t think it ever operated as a movie house.