Beverly Theatre
3029 Fairfield Avenue,
Bridgeport,
CT
06605
3029 Fairfield Avenue,
Bridgeport,
CT
06605
1 person
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Additional Info
Firms: William Riseman Associates
Functions: Storage
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Nearby Theaters
The Beverly Theatre opened on October 26, 1949. It was the only new theatre to open in Bridgeport after WWII. It was owned by the Elmwood Theatre Corporation operators of a chain of theatres in Connecticut. It had a modern theatrical design of blue, grey and tangerine color motif with burgundy carpets in a yellow tulip design. It had push back seats, with all seating on a single level. Large glass doors lead into the vestibule where one wall contains a huge panel for coming attractions. The standee rail is hand finished birch.
The Beverly Theatre was closed on June 29, 1985 and was sold to be converted into offices. By 2012 it was in use as a self-storage facility.
Contributed by
Barry S. Goodkin
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
I think this theater is demolished as there is no building at that address resembling a theater.
After a movie c.1959 the manager told me and a friend if we put all the seats back up he would give us passes, which he did. It was a very nice modern theater, not far from the Bullard factory.
I uploaded the grand opening ad in the photo section
The building is still there but has been heavily modified. It’s currently a U-Haul Storage facility. If you look carefully you can still see the remains of the rock texture wall in the above picture inside of the building.
The building at that address is the former Beverly Theatre. And yes, it has been heavily modified although some elements of the theater do remain. The theater opened with a double feature — “The Rope of Sand” (1949) starring Burt Lancaster & “Illegal Entry: Formula for Fear” (1949) starring Sabryn Gene’t. The theater was designed in Mid-Century Modern (mid-20th century) style. If anyone knows who the architect is for this theater, please share? Thanks!
Handsome marquee and box office. Like the rounded corners and lighting and rough stone.
Alan, the “Firm” field on this page says that the Beverly Theatre was designed by William Riseman Associates. Riseman himself might have been the lead architect, but it was a large and busy firm so most of their projects would have been team efforts, and various associates might have taken the lead on any number of projects.
Toward the end of its life, the Beverly showed second run features for 99 cents. Combined with the nearby Beverly Pizza House (which hasn’t changed one tiny bit) it made an excellent night out for broke high school kids. The theater closed within weeks of my graduation.
Great theater! I remember seeing the Bad News Bears there and E.T.
there were big openings at the back of the theater, so when you went to the lobby for snacks, you could still see the movie while standing in line. building is still there. Now a self storage place