Then and Now - The Medford Theatre - Medford, MA

The Medford Theater, designed in the Colonial architectural style, was erected in 1915, with the design credited to M.A. Dyer. George K. Hackett from Medfield, MA, and Ramsdell Brothers of Malden secured a lease for the theater, then under construction in Medford Square. The grand opening was scheduled for September 11, 1917, featuring a stock company led by Margaret Brainard.

Documented in the 1927 Film Daily Yearbook, the Medford Theatre had seating capacity of 1800 seats, and operated six days a week. A later report from April 1941, gives the seating count at 792 seats on the main floor and 504 in the balcony, totaling 1296 seats. Theaters often lied about the amount of seats in the initial advertisements to make them seem larger than they were. However, since these two seat counts were decades apart, it’s more likely that the theater had gotten new, larger seats.

Evolving with the times, the theater was twinned, transforming into Cinema 1 & 2. Later advancements led to a triplex configuration, resulting in the theater being renamed again to the Medford Square 1-2-3. The theater closed in 1983, and the auditorium was demolished on August 25, 1989. At first, it was replaced by a parking lot, but in 2022 a luxury condo building called the Dyer Lofts was built on the site. The front portion of the building remains, and are used as office and retail spaces.