I also am hoping to contact Mr. Lamb or any other descendants of Thomas Lamb for a potential documentary project I’m working on. I too, am aware that posting here might not bear fruit but I figured I’d try! If anyone knows Mr. Lamb’s contact or that of any other descendants, please email me at . Thanks so much!
I’m aware that trying to find Mr. Lamb by this avenue years after the original post isn’t likely to bear fruit, but if he or nyone that knows how I might contact him, kindly email me at . I manage a Lamb building and would very much like to contact his descendent.
hi tom , i have a original leaded stained glass exit sign from the loews midland threatre here in kansas city mo. , from the 1920,s , i have it listed on craigslist for sale under collectables if interested , looks to be 1 of three only made , thanks , j.r. 816-876-6491
Here in Syracuse, we still have the honor of a 1928 Thomas Lamb theater, the Landmark (i.e. Loew’s). It was one of 5 or 6 theaters that once made South Salina Street an Upstate Broadway. But just a few doors South of it was another Lamb theater – the B.F. Keith’s. It was as beautifully Neoclassic as Loew’s is posh Baroque/Near Eastern exotic. (I’m not a formally trained student of architecture, so no doubt I’m getting my stylistic categories wrong, but I’m sure you get my drift.) Anyhow, I remember the Syracuse Keith’s – God, she was a beauty. It’s “face” on the west side of South Salina Street was a huge, fan-shaped set of windows. Its interior was mostly white wood (?), and its acoustics were known to be fabulous. It opened on January 26, 1920 with vaudevile star Belle Baker as the main attraction. It remained till 1967, when, during the ugly, bone-headed days of Urban Renewal, it (she !) and two blocks' worth of lively, varied storefronts were demolished for a big 4-story department store which itself is now “sleeping with the fishes.” (I was 7 years old when it was taken down.) The Keith’s huge Wurlitzer organ was saved, though, and now resides in the Empire Theater on the State Fair Grounds), along with some other Keith’s artifacts. Although the Keith’s seated almost 2000, and there was talk even back then of the need for a new Civic Center to house the Syracuse Symphony, still, the Old Girl was demolshed anyway. So-o-o…less than a decade later, we had to build a new Civic Center which ended up with “OK” acoustics and nowhere near the beauty. It seems that restoration just wasn’t “interesting” enough to the leadership of the time. (On the other hand, laying in new concrete…You get the idea.)
Anyhow, are you (or anyone reading this) aware if the Syracuse Keith’s had any surviving “twins” or “sisters” or even “close cousins” elsewhere? If so I’d love to make a pilgrimage.
Hi – just wanted to mention that I stumbled the other day on a Thomas Lamb building on West 67th street (or maybe 68 .. ). This previously must have been the HQ of the Order of the Knights of Pythias, now a private condo – but the renovations have kept the beautiful facade, and as far as I could see, the vestibule entrance.
Good Evening, Mr. Lamb. My name is Louis Belloisy and I am the house photographer and historian for the wonderfully restored Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut. Our grand theater was designed by your Great Grandfather and opened in January of 1922.
I was thrilled to come across your post in Cinema Treasure about Thomas Lamb.
I am constantly doing research on our theater and would like to know more about your G.G and Salvatore Z. Poli who commissioned Mr. Lamb to design our theater.
Please take a few minutes to peruse my web site on the Palace Theater. There are many photos of the newly restored theater. We were closed down and empty for 18 years and recently re-opened in November of 2004.
I just read the book EMILLEE KART and the SEVEN SAVING SIGNS thanks to all that reccommended it I hear its being made into a play? From one of the posts its debuting in a struggling Lamb theatre? anywho the book WAS better than Narnia and in par with Harry Potter.
Hi Tom Lamb,
I was looking at historic homes and stumbled upon a summer home for sale in Elizabethtown New York Adirondacks). It states that it was built by your Great Grandfather as his private summer residence. Did you know about this? There are several lovely photos that you may want to add to your collection (something on a personal level).His name led me to research him and that led me to this site!
The realty name was www.adkrealty.com (It’s being listed as Cobble Mountain Lodge) Hope you have some fun with this information!
I’m curious, does building run in the family? My Dad was a stonemason and it has been fun to see different nieces and nephews veer towards building and architechture. You should be very proud of his contributions
Hi Tom:
Here are a couple of web sites about the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London. The first mentions your great grandfather as the architech, thus validating what my father had in his notes ( which also said “I put the job through after an English associate failed ”!). The second has a number of photographs of a rebuilding/ refurbishing in the 1980’s or 90’s. I don’t know how closely they followed the old design but it certainly is in the grand style, something your great grandfather and my father could take great pride in.
I’m checking out that “Episcopal church in Arlington, NJ”. It looks like a dead end. Arlington is a suburb of Kearny on the edge of the Meadowlands . Not exactly the place one would build a cathedral-like church!. I’m still looking. If you run across anything let me know.
Hi Tom:
Here are a couple of web sites about the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London. The first mentions your great grandfather as the architech, thus validating what my father had in his notes ( which also said “I put the job through after an English associate failed ”!). The second has a number of photographs of a rebuilding/ refurbishing in the 1980’s or 90’s. I don’t know how closely they followed the old design but it certainly is in the grand style, something your great grandfather and my father could take great pride in.
I’m checking out that “Episcopal church in Arlington, NJ”. It looks like a dead end. Arlington is a suburb of Kearny on the edge of the Meadowlands . Not exactly the place one would build a cathedral-like church!. I’m still looking. If you run across anything let me know.
Thanks so much; I’ll check out that Episcopal Church. Thanks also for the tip rfegarding the Avery Library. That could be useful to me for other endeavors. I’ll keep you posted
Bill, I just rec’d a spreadsheet from Avery with a listing of all the drawings they have on file. In that list, is the Methodist Episcopal Church in Arlington NJ. No date is given for the project drawings. Hope this helps.
Sure is nice to read so many interesting and informative posts here as it is a pleasure to have as a CT member, Thomas Lamb’s great grandson and namesake. I only wish we could all personally meet you. The one Lamb theatre that I have personally toured is the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse NY and it was simple breathtaking!
Bill, thanks for this new information. I did some more investigation online regarding TW,and came up with this website: View link
The site lists several buildings held by Emporis that list TW Lamb as the architect. It appears that there is precedent for work other than theaters for the firm. Among the notable buildings is the Paramount Hotel in NYC. Given this information, a church commission would not be out of the realm of possibilities. I would steer you to the Avery Library at Columbia Universtiy in Manhattan. TW’s former partner in the firm donated TW’s work to the archive there. I would be quite interested in any other stories your father may have told you about his work with the Lamb firm. Thanks for responding to the post. Tom
Here is something that you may want to add to your great grandfathers portfolio that is not lsted here. In particular the Empire Cinema on Leiscester Square in London built during the period 1926-1928. My father, Joseph A McCarroll, worked for the Lamb firm from 1925-1930 and was the manager who competed the job. He said it was the first Amerian motion picture theatre built in Europe. It may also have been called the Ritz or the Roxy. There may have been a second one. I had thought that it had been destoryed in the blitz but there is a newpaper clipping in my fathers portfolio dated 1952 of a theatre whose marquee says “Empire Ritz” with a notation in my fathers hand that he was “London Manager, 1927-28” that would indicated that is in fact surviced the bombing or was rebuilt.
On another matter, I have in my possession and rendering of an unidentified gothic style church done by my father. I thought that it was done while he was in private practice in 1923 but after looking at it more closely, it could be dated 1928. The date and the almost certainty that the church, if it ever was constructed, would be in the new York City area are the only clues I have. Thus my question to you is, did your great grandfather’s firm ever do churches and if so do you have a record of same that were done around 1928. I love to hear from anybody who might help me in this “search for a church”
Sorry not to have come back sooner and checked my posting for comments, but life has been very hectic for the last year.
There is a new development: I will be interviewed for a documentary on TW and the Stanley Theater in Utica next week, and am really looking forward to the whole experience. They contacted me through this post.
On to some of the above postings…Richard, you may find information at the Avery library of Columbia University in NYC. Wikipedia Thomas W. Lamb and you will find more information there.
And Patsy, thanks for keeping the flame of this posting going!
and many thanks to all for checking in.
Cheers, Tom
I just recently received the book, The Last Remaining Seats by Ben Hall and Thomas Lamb among many other names such as Eberson and Rapp & Rapp are mentioned. Lamb was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1887 and came to the United States when he was twelve.
Mr. Lamb: I note the posting above from Chris Cort. I would like to get in contact with Mr. Cort. I am a distant cousin of John Cort and have some family information to share with him. Can you please send my email address to him and ask him to contact me? Thank you for your help. John Thielke
Mr. Lamb: You contact individual members directly through their E-mail addresses which are supposed to be listed under CONTACT on their Profile pages which one gets to by clicking on their names in blue at the ends of their Comments. All can add their E-mails by ckicking on ‘Profile’ in the upper right corner of any page, once one has signed on (which is automatic after one Registers —if one has ‘cookies’ turned on, on one’s computer.) One can put his E-mail directly into a Comment, but the CONTACT provision on a member’s Profile page is designed to thwart the automated ‘robots’ (computers) which nightly scan the Web sites looking for new E-mails to “harvest” so as to add them to spam lists. Some members don’t want to be contacted at all, so they do not leave any CONTACT data, while others will give mailing address and phone numbers as well. So, let’s all at least list our E-mails in the CONTACT field so that others can contact us.
well,well, well. Tom Lamb ,im the great grandson of John Cort. Your Great grandfather built the Cort Theatre on 48th street for my grand father. “Im currently looking for information on him and his many theatres and productions. Do you have any memoribilia about this partnership,stories. Ill ask my father also John Cort if he has any stories> cheers Chris Cort
There is certainly a great deal to learn about this issue. I really like all of the points you’ve made.super singer telugu 2019
I also am hoping to contact Mr. Lamb or any other descendants of Thomas Lamb for a potential documentary project I’m working on. I too, am aware that posting here might not bear fruit but I figured I’d try! If anyone knows Mr. Lamb’s contact or that of any other descendants, please email me at . Thanks so much!
I’m aware that trying to find Mr. Lamb by this avenue years after the original post isn’t likely to bear fruit, but if he or nyone that knows how I might contact him, kindly email me at . I manage a Lamb building and would very much like to contact his descendent.
Thanks!
hi tom , i have a original leaded stained glass exit sign from the loews midland threatre here in kansas city mo. , from the 1920,s , i have it listed on craigslist for sale under collectables if interested , looks to be 1 of three only made , thanks , j.r. 816-876-6491
Dear Tom,
What a pride you must have in your name !
Here in Syracuse, we still have the honor of a 1928 Thomas Lamb theater, the Landmark (i.e. Loew’s). It was one of 5 or 6 theaters that once made South Salina Street an Upstate Broadway. But just a few doors South of it was another Lamb theater – the B.F. Keith’s. It was as beautifully Neoclassic as Loew’s is posh Baroque/Near Eastern exotic. (I’m not a formally trained student of architecture, so no doubt I’m getting my stylistic categories wrong, but I’m sure you get my drift.) Anyhow, I remember the Syracuse Keith’s – God, she was a beauty. It’s “face” on the west side of South Salina Street was a huge, fan-shaped set of windows. Its interior was mostly white wood (?), and its acoustics were known to be fabulous. It opened on January 26, 1920 with vaudevile star Belle Baker as the main attraction. It remained till 1967, when, during the ugly, bone-headed days of Urban Renewal, it (she !) and two blocks' worth of lively, varied storefronts were demolished for a big 4-story department store which itself is now “sleeping with the fishes.” (I was 7 years old when it was taken down.) The Keith’s huge Wurlitzer organ was saved, though, and now resides in the Empire Theater on the State Fair Grounds), along with some other Keith’s artifacts. Although the Keith’s seated almost 2000, and there was talk even back then of the need for a new Civic Center to house the Syracuse Symphony, still, the Old Girl was demolshed anyway. So-o-o…less than a decade later, we had to build a new Civic Center which ended up with “OK” acoustics and nowhere near the beauty. It seems that restoration just wasn’t “interesting” enough to the leadership of the time. (On the other hand, laying in new concrete…You get the idea.)
Anyhow, are you (or anyone reading this) aware if the Syracuse Keith’s had any surviving “twins” or “sisters” or even “close cousins” elsewhere? If so I’d love to make a pilgrimage.
my web address : [e-mail]
Thanks,
Mark E. Farrington
Hi – just wanted to mention that I stumbled the other day on a Thomas Lamb building on West 67th street (or maybe 68 .. ). This previously must have been the HQ of the Order of the Knights of Pythias, now a private condo – but the renovations have kept the beautiful facade, and as far as I could see, the vestibule entrance.
You can see some photos there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nycandre/2439993712/
And if anyone is interested I have many more that I have not posted.
Best,
nycandre -at- ya hoo -dot- com
Good Evening, Mr. Lamb. My name is Louis Belloisy and I am the house photographer and historian for the wonderfully restored Palace Theater in Waterbury, Connecticut. Our grand theater was designed by your Great Grandfather and opened in January of 1922.
I was thrilled to come across your post in Cinema Treasure about Thomas Lamb.
I am constantly doing research on our theater and would like to know more about your G.G and Salvatore Z. Poli who commissioned Mr. Lamb to design our theater.
Please take a few minutes to peruse my web site on the Palace Theater. There are many photos of the newly restored theater. We were closed down and empty for 18 years and recently re-opened in November of 2004.
my web site is: www.palacewaterbury.com
and the web site for the actual theater is: http://www.palacetheaterct.org/
Please respond,
thank you,
Louis Belloisy
Hi, Son,
I just read all the replies to your posting. Keep on truckin'!
I just read the book EMILLEE KART and the SEVEN SAVING SIGNS thanks to all that reccommended it I hear its being made into a play? From one of the posts its debuting in a struggling Lamb theatre? anywho the book WAS better than Narnia and in par with Harry Potter.
Hi Tom Lamb,
I was looking at historic homes and stumbled upon a summer home for sale in Elizabethtown New York Adirondacks). It states that it was built by your Great Grandfather as his private summer residence. Did you know about this? There are several lovely photos that you may want to add to your collection (something on a personal level).His name led me to research him and that led me to this site!
The realty name was www.adkrealty.com (It’s being listed as Cobble Mountain Lodge) Hope you have some fun with this information!
I’m curious, does building run in the family? My Dad was a stonemason and it has been fun to see different nieces and nephews veer towards building and architechture. You should be very proud of his contributions
Tom, Please email me at to discuss the Utica project. Thanks, Karen
Hi Tom:
Here are a couple of web sites about the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London. The first mentions your great grandfather as the architech, thus validating what my father had in his notes ( which also said “I put the job through after an English associate failed ”!). The second has a number of photographs of a rebuilding/ refurbishing in the 1980’s or 90’s. I don’t know how closely they followed the old design but it certainly is in the grand style, something your great grandfather and my father could take great pride in.
I’m checking out that “Episcopal church in Arlington, NJ”. It looks like a dead end. Arlington is a suburb of Kearny on the edge of the Meadowlands . Not exactly the place one would build a cathedral-like church!. I’m still looking. If you run across anything let me know.
Best regards,
Bill
View link
View link
Hi Tom:
Here are a couple of web sites about the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, London. The first mentions your great grandfather as the architech, thus validating what my father had in his notes ( which also said “I put the job through after an English associate failed ”!). The second has a number of photographs of a rebuilding/ refurbishing in the 1980’s or 90’s. I don’t know how closely they followed the old design but it certainly is in the grand style, something your great grandfather and my father could take great pride in.
I’m checking out that “Episcopal church in Arlington, NJ”. It looks like a dead end. Arlington is a suburb of Kearny on the edge of the Meadowlands . Not exactly the place one would build a cathedral-like church!. I’m still looking. If you run across anything let me know.
Best regards,
Bill
View link
View link
Tom:
Thanks so much; I’ll check out that Episcopal Church. Thanks also for the tip rfegarding the Avery Library. That could be useful to me for other endeavors. I’ll keep you posted
Bill
Bill, I just rec’d a spreadsheet from Avery with a listing of all the drawings they have on file. In that list, is the Methodist Episcopal Church in Arlington NJ. No date is given for the project drawings. Hope this helps.
Sure is nice to read so many interesting and informative posts here as it is a pleasure to have as a CT member, Thomas Lamb’s great grandson and namesake. I only wish we could all personally meet you. The one Lamb theatre that I have personally toured is the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse NY and it was simple breathtaking!
Bill, thanks for this new information. I did some more investigation online regarding TW,and came up with this website: View link
The site lists several buildings held by Emporis that list TW Lamb as the architect. It appears that there is precedent for work other than theaters for the firm. Among the notable buildings is the Paramount Hotel in NYC. Given this information, a church commission would not be out of the realm of possibilities. I would steer you to the Avery Library at Columbia Universtiy in Manhattan. TW’s former partner in the firm donated TW’s work to the archive there. I would be quite interested in any other stories your father may have told you about his work with the Lamb firm. Thanks for responding to the post. Tom
Hi Tom:
Here is something that you may want to add to your great grandfathers portfolio that is not lsted here. In particular the Empire Cinema on Leiscester Square in London built during the period 1926-1928. My father, Joseph A McCarroll, worked for the Lamb firm from 1925-1930 and was the manager who competed the job. He said it was the first Amerian motion picture theatre built in Europe. It may also have been called the Ritz or the Roxy. There may have been a second one. I had thought that it had been destoryed in the blitz but there is a newpaper clipping in my fathers portfolio dated 1952 of a theatre whose marquee says “Empire Ritz” with a notation in my fathers hand that he was “London Manager, 1927-28” that would indicated that is in fact surviced the bombing or was rebuilt.
On another matter, I have in my possession and rendering of an unidentified gothic style church done by my father. I thought that it was done while he was in private practice in 1923 but after looking at it more closely, it could be dated 1928. The date and the almost certainty that the church, if it ever was constructed, would be in the new York City area are the only clues I have. Thus my question to you is, did your great grandfather’s firm ever do churches and if so do you have a record of same that were done around 1928. I love to hear from anybody who might help me in this “search for a church”
Hello all,
Sorry not to have come back sooner and checked my posting for comments, but life has been very hectic for the last year.
There is a new development: I will be interviewed for a documentary on TW and the Stanley Theater in Utica next week, and am really looking forward to the whole experience. They contacted me through this post.
On to some of the above postings…Richard, you may find information at the Avery library of Columbia University in NYC. Wikipedia Thomas W. Lamb and you will find more information there.
And Patsy, thanks for keeping the flame of this posting going!
and many thanks to all for checking in.
Cheers, Tom
I just recently received the book, The Last Remaining Seats by Ben Hall and Thomas Lamb among many other names such as Eberson and Rapp & Rapp are mentioned. Lamb was born in Dundee, Scotland, in 1887 and came to the United States when he was twelve.
Chris cort please respond your name sounds familiar
Mr. Lamb: I note the posting above from Chris Cort. I would like to get in contact with Mr. Cort. I am a distant cousin of John Cort and have some family information to share with him. Can you please send my email address to him and ask him to contact me? Thank you for your help. John Thielke
Has anyone heard of a russian emigre, Nicholas Vassilieve, who may have done alot of design work for Thomas Lamb?
Thanks,
Richard
Mr. Lamb: You contact individual members directly through their E-mail addresses which are supposed to be listed under CONTACT on their Profile pages which one gets to by clicking on their names in blue at the ends of their Comments. All can add their E-mails by ckicking on ‘Profile’ in the upper right corner of any page, once one has signed on (which is automatic after one Registers —if one has ‘cookies’ turned on, on one’s computer.) One can put his E-mail directly into a Comment, but the CONTACT provision on a member’s Profile page is designed to thwart the automated ‘robots’ (computers) which nightly scan the Web sites looking for new E-mails to “harvest” so as to add them to spam lists. Some members don’t want to be contacted at all, so they do not leave any CONTACT data, while others will give mailing address and phone numbers as well. So, let’s all at least list our E-mails in the CONTACT field so that others can contact us.
well,well, well. Tom Lamb ,im the great grandson of John Cort. Your Great grandfather built the Cort Theatre on 48th street for my grand father. “Im currently looking for information on him and his many theatres and productions. Do you have any memoribilia about this partnership,stories. Ill ask my father also John Cort if he has any stories> cheers Chris Cort