Teele Square Theatre
1156 Broadway,
Somerville,
MA
02144
1156 Broadway,
Somerville,
MA
02144
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The Teele Square Theatre was a neighborhood house in Somerville, built in the 20’s. It was the first theater built by the Viano family, who also built the Broadway Theatre in East Somerville and later owned the Somerville Theatre, the Arlington Capitol and the Arlington Regent.
It closed in the 1970’s and was used for many years as a backdrop studio. The auditorium was demolished in the early 1990’s for a parking lot. The lobby, which was merely a storefront with a marquee, it became a carpet store. The building was badly damaged by a fire, and was demolished in November 2011.
Contributed by
Ian M. Judge
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
Clarendon Avenue and Broadway. The building stood for many years after it closed as a theatre. The site is now a parking lot.
You’re right. It is Broadway…Are you from Somerville?
Mike
David Guss has recently added many pictures and posters of the Teele Square Theatre to his “Lost Theatres of Somerville” website. A few of the photos show the theatre’s demolition in progress. Go to http://www.losttheatres.org/theaters.htm and click on “Teele Square”.
According to Guss’s website, the Teele Square opened on Monday, January 16, 1922, closed in 1967, and was demolished some time in the mid-1990s.
David Guss’s article “Lost Theatres of Somerville”, from the First Quarter 2006 issue of Marquee, the journal of the Theatre Historical Society of America, is now online at View link .
Besides an extensive history, the article also contains many old photos of and advertisements for the various theatres in Somerville, including the Teele Square.
(This is a 17-page scanned-image PDF, so unfortunately you cannot search or copy the text.)
As the “Toole Square”, this theater is listed in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook with 1000 seats, open 6 days/week.
Toole Square? That’s quite funny, as it was never called this.
But that’s typical of the spelling errors and other inaccuracies which are found in these old industry sources.
A multiple-alarm fire several hours ago seriously damaged the carpet store and several other businesses in this block. Some of the building may need to be demolished.
from Somerville.Patch.com: Major Fire Strikes Teele Square Saturday Night
Sadly, the building turned out to be a total loss and was demolished last week. Nothing now remains of the former Teele Square Theatre.