Loew's Victoria Theatre
233 W. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10027
233 W. 125th Street,
New York,
NY
10027
6 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Loew's Inc.
Architects: Thomas White Lamb
Styles: Adam
Previous Names: Movie Center 5 on 125th Street, Harlem Victoria 5
Nearby Theaters
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Apollo Theater
-
Harlem Opera House
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RKO Alhambra Theatre
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AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9
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Loew's 7th Avenue Theatre
News About This Theater
- Sep 29, 2012 — Loew's Victoria in Harlem to be demolished
- Aug 11, 2010 — Hanover Theater for sale
- Mar 8, 2005 — New Life For Loew's Victoria Theatre In Harlem?
The Loew’s Victoria Theatre opened on October 5, 1917, almost adjacent to the east of the famed Apollo Theatre in New York’s Harlem neighborhood. It was a vaudeville and movie theatre and had a seating capacity of 2,446. It was equipped with a Moller 3 manual 17 ranks theatre organ. This was later replaced by a Robert-Morton 3 manual organ. It closed as a Loew’s house in 1978.
OnDecember 5, 1986 it was reopened as a five-plex and renamed the Movie Center 5 on 125th Street. It was only open for a little over four years, closing on January 4, 1990. Someone did screen some African-American art films occasionally in 1992 in one of the auditoriums and it was known as the Harlem Victoria 5, but these had ceased by 1994.
The theatre was sometimes used for church services for a time, but in recent years, it has sat unused. Several plans have been put forward for reuse, but have not been met with sympathetic ears so far.
The exterior is still in good shape; the marquee still said ‘Movie Center 5’ and the building sported a new roof. The Apollo Theatre’s auditorium goes off to the right of the lobby, and the Victoria Theatre’s auditorium goes off to the left of its lobby, so the back ends of their respective stage houses back up against each other. Several buildings down, near the eastern end of the block is the site of the now demolished Harlem Opera House.
In August 2016 the interior of the building was being gutted in preparation for its demolition. The auditorium was demolished in April 2017, with the façade and entrance lobby retained. An apartment tower block has been built on the site of the auditorium.
Contributed by
RobertR, William Gabel, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 89 comments)
As of last week, the Loew’s Victoria is demolished except for the entance lobby. The land that the theatre sat on is leveled to broken bricks laid out evenly. The bricks were from the ROSE Brick Co. I got a whole brick back in August and a half broken brick last week. Headline description should be changed to DEMOLISHED. Asta la vista!
What remains of the Victoria Theatre will provide two new performance spaces for the nearby Apollo Theatre, according to a report in The New York Times. Link here
I mean its all nice this plan they have. But the 1500 seat theatre is saved, which is great, but the 2300 seat theatre gets demolished. What a shame.
Uploaded a ad when it became Movie Center 5 on 125th Street
Please update, theatre closed January 4, 1990
What went wrong with Movie Center 5 that it only lasted 4 years?
I do have an organ pipe from the Victoria. Given to me by one of the demolition crew. My plan is to clone the theater back from this wooden organ pipe.
Hello. Does anyone know how this place was cut up. Thanks.
Relaunched as the Movie Center 5 on December 5, 1986.
https://www.thecuriousuptowner.com/post/before-and-after-photos-harlem-s-historic-victoria-theater
March of 2024, announced the reopening of the historic Victoria Theater after an extensive, decade-long restoration, returning grandeur back to the century-old Harlem landmark. Today’s ribbon-cutting formally unveils the cultural arts centerpiece of a broader State-led mixed-use retail and residential redevelopment project at the site on 125th Street in Manhattan, which includes construction of nearly 200 units of housing, more than 100 of which are affordable, and a 211-room hotel – the first full-service hotel opened in Harlem in nearly a century and the tallest building north of Central Park. The cultural component, Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater, features two new performance spaces with a combined seating capacity of nearly 300, that will be managed by the legendary Apollo Theater Foundation, whose landmark home is located on the same block as the Victoria.
So it’s current function is hotel/apartments.
This link includes a portal to photos of the Victoria.. https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-hochul-unveils-complete-restoration-and-redevelopment-harlems-historic-victoria
In doing the above research I saw some discrepancy on the re-opening as the Movie Center 5. I saw some 1986, some 1987 and the ad posted in 2019 is from the Dec 12, 1986 edition of the NY Daily News.