Terrace Theatre

Harry T. Nayor built the Terrace Theatre at the corner of Ashburton Avenue and Nepperhan Avenue. Legend had it that $15,000 in gold was found when digging the theatre’s foundation making the Terrace Theatre a true Cinema Treasure! The Terrace Theatre was an 800-seat movie house complete with a Wurlitzer K organ because when it opened in 1926, live music accompaniment was a “prominent part of the Photoplay presentation". The theatre launched June 16, 1926 with Ronald Colman in “The Dark Angel".

Soon Gilbert Freedman took on the theatre converting it to sound as talkies became more prominent just two years later. The theatre hit its stride during the Depression with silverware and free dishes said to be popular with workers at the Alexander Smith carpet mills. A popular small candy stand sold one cent and two cent candy along with nickel candy bars. The theatre was part of Freedman’s New England Theatre Circuit. Patrons nicknamed the Terrace Theatre the “itch".

Operator Harold Friedman ran the theatre through World War II with successful war bond and stamp sales. In 1948, Paramount brought a suit claiming that the theatre had shorted box office receipt reporting. The operators of the Terrace Theatre would turn the tables joining the Kent Theatre in suing the chain exhibitors with block booking practices harming their business in 1953.

Under new operators Charles F. Burns, a Loews Circuit veteran, and Donald McConville under the Bur-Don Enterprises nameplate, the Terrace Theatre was refurbished now down to 550 seats in 1949 and likely not filling them due to the combination of business practices by the competitors and the advent of television. Not long after the theatre’s 25th anniversary, Bur-Don Theatre Enterprises closed the Terrace Theatre on May 5, 1952.

The Terrace Theatre got one more shot at cinematic operation when independent operator Leonard Kaufman reopened the Terrace Theatre on October 28, 1952. It was closed Mondays but retained the continuous shows 1pm to 11pm that the Terrace Theatre had run in the previous 25 years. He played mostly second run films but connected with locals with occasional Polish language films and sponsored Duncan Yo-Yo events on the stage featuring free yo-yo giveaways and a grand prize bike to the best yo-yo’er.

A minor fire closed the theatre on November 23, 1956. The Terrace Theatre became part of a redevelopment project and never reopened. It was razed in April of 1957 along with the entire retail block. No reports on further discovery of gold was reported at the time of the razing.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.