The Apollo Theatre opened on December 15, 1913, as Hurtig & Seamon’s New Burlesque Theater. The 1,853 seat theater is located in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. It was designed by architect George Keister, also known for the American Airlines Theatre in Times Square. It showed burlesque in its early years, but with the decline […]
The Logan Theatre in Philadelphia, PA, opened on January 24, 1924. It was built by the Stanley Company of America (now known as Time Warner) for $1.1 million, or $14 million when adjusted for inflation. The 1894-seat theater was designed by Hoffman and Henon, the architectural firm who also designed the now mostly demolished Boyd […]
Philadelphia’s Metropolitan Opera House opened on November 17, 1908, as the Philadelphia Opera House. The 3,482 seat theater was built by architect William H. McElfatrick for Oscar Hammerstein, the grandfather of Oscar Hammerstein II, the famous musical theater lyricist. However, after only two years, Hammerstein fell into debt and was forced to sell the opera […]
Moss and Brill’s Hamilton Theatre opened on January 23, 1913, in Manhattan’s Hamilton Heights neighborhood. Famed theater architect Thomas W. Lamb was commissioned to design the building by vaudeville operator Benjamin S. Moss and theater developer Solomon Bril. Lamb designed the Hamilton in the Renaissance Revival style, incorporating a terracotta façade. On November 26, 1913, […]
The Ritz Theatre in Carteret, New Jersey, originally opened on September 1, 1927. According to an article in “The Carteret Press,” “it was the first modern theater to be erected in the borough and is up-to-date in every respect.” The 1,000 to 1,200 seat Ritz (accounts on the number of seats differ) was designed by […]
The Boyd Theatre, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s only art deco movie palace, opened on Christmas day in 1928. Located in Philadelphia’s Center City neighborhood, the 2,450 seat theater was commissioned by Alexander Boyd and built by Hoffman-Henon, a Philadelphia architecture firm also known for the construction of the nearby Prince Music Theatre. One of the companies commissioned […]
Stevie Wonder, the Jackson 5, The Temptations, Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and the Supremes, besides being renowned musical artists, all have one thing in common besides being famous musical artists; they all performed at the Uptown Theatre in Philadelphia, PA. Located in the North Central neighborhood of Philadelphia, […]
The Embassy Theatre opened on August 12, 1926, in Port Chester, NY. Designed by prominent theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, the 1,591 seat theater was built on an old Elk Lodge. Lamb also designed the nearby Capitol Theatre, which opened just a few days after the Embassy. Like most theaters of its time, the Embassy […]
The Paramount Theatre opened on October 11, 1886, as H.C. Miner’s Newark Theatre. It was originally a vaudeville house managed by Hyde & Behman Amusement Co., a Brooklyn-based theater company. After H.C. Miner died in 1900, his surviving relatives retained ownership of the theater for several years before selling it in 1916 to Edward Spiegel, […]
The Adams Theatre in Newark, New Jersey, originally opened on January 12, 1912, as the Shubert Theatre. It was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by architect William E. Lehman, who also designed the Proctor’s Palace Theatre in Yonkers, NY. The 2,037 seat theater was initially used for theatrical productions, Broadway tryouts, and revivals. In August […]
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