ccording to the Google Maps, the Harlem Opera House’s address is a little bit down to the east from where the Apollo and Victoria are located. There is no sign of the building now- a modern building is on the site. The Apollo and Victoria are right next door to each other; in fact, the Apollo’s auditorium goes off to the right from the lobby, and the Victoria’s goes to the left, so the back of their respective stage houses are butting up against each other.
Accoring to an article in the Montreal Gazette this is not the original builkding – that was demolished and rebuilt some years ago – from the photos above, the current building appears to date from the early 1960s.
I’d like to see an interior photo but from what I’ve heard they were just conventional modern auditoriums sim,ilar to others of the era (seating capacities were approx. 750 and 650 respectively)
The Landsdowne just had a special movie screening on April 17 to kick off restoration efforts. They have already repaired the roof, reconnected the storm water drainage system, installed temporary lighting and a fire detection system, and removed obsolete mechanical equipment throughout the building. Preliminary architectural plans have been completed and planning work and rundraising efforts have commenced to conduct a restoration of the building.
The main facade of the building has a small entrance, a glass door – no sign indicating what’s in it, but the facade is recently repainted – nothing’s boarded up.
Interesting design – a long, narrow and low building – obviously all seating on one level – looks like it could have been a large ballroom originally – there are filled-in windows on the side.
They have an official web page up! Right now it doesn’t have much, outside of directions and a notice that the regular programming resumes in September.
The lobby is also a form of art deco- a little unusual with the preponderance of varnished wood, but definitely art deco. In fact, some of the walls are original, with the others being recreations of the original.
I posted too soon – according to the museum’s website, they HAVE been doing a lot of renovation in the auditorium during summer 2009 – including repairing and painting the plaster in a historic color theme.
The first link above is of the Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, WI, and the second is of the Orpheum, according to the photo captions. They are remarkably similar, and the Oprheum photo looks very recent. Have they been doing some renovations recently?? (The photos in the Jan 19 post the auditorium looks father tattered.
From the google street photos, it has quite an impressive widefront facade of fancy red brick and white stone. as of 3/24/10 is still a church, the bricks have all been cleaned – it looks obviously renovated. Windows in the auditorium area – they may have done major remodeling in the auditorium. Looks like a bad neighborhood – the doors along the front have roll-down corrugated gates. It is still home to Miracle Temple Pentacostal Church – at least they were having recitals there in 2009.
The current store in the front is selling office supplies. The drugstore appears to be gone now, -the theatre’s storefront is the only one left on this side of the block – all else is parking. But you can see the auditorium in back. people would walk straight back and turn turn right to enter the auditorium. From the air it looks big enough to seat at least 1,000. There is a small window in the side wall of the auditorium so it may be gutted inside. Then again they may have simply punched a small hole in the wall. The side that’s the back of the lobby is still complete – no windows.
The building still exists. From street level photos, it looks like a late 1920s construction – typical neighborhood theatre. The marquee is wrapped with a banner proclaiming “Our Lady of Sorrows Church” with a street number of 654. But there is painted plywood across the entrance with padlocks. Looks like the church has closed down or moved, but the building is still intact, and presumably also the interior.
Checked Google Maps. Nothing there but acres of parking lots.
ccording to the Google Maps, the Harlem Opera House’s address is a little bit down to the east from where the Apollo and Victoria are located. There is no sign of the building now- a modern building is on the site. The Apollo and Victoria are right next door to each other; in fact, the Apollo’s auditorium goes off to the right from the lobby, and the Victoria’s goes to the left, so the back of their respective stage houses are butting up against each other.
The website in the preceding message has some excellent photo galleries with interior photos both then and now
Correct link to the 1908 photo:
View link
Accoring to an article in the Montreal Gazette this is not the original builkding – that was demolished and rebuilt some years ago – from the photos above, the current building appears to date from the early 1960s.
Here’s an exterior photo of the (now demolished) Chinese II and Chinese II auditoriums that were added in 1979:
View link
I’d like to see an interior photo but from what I’ve heard they were just conventional modern auditoriums sim,ilar to others of the era (seating capacities were approx. 750 and 650 respectively)
The Landsdowne just had a special movie screening on April 17 to kick off restoration efforts. They have already repaired the roof, reconnected the storm water drainage system, installed temporary lighting and a fire detection system, and removed obsolete mechanical equipment throughout the building. Preliminary architectural plans have been completed and planning work and rundraising efforts have commenced to conduct a restoration of the building.
The main facade of the building has a small entrance, a glass door – no sign indicating what’s in it, but the facade is recently repainted – nothing’s boarded up.
Looks like it was demolished a long time ago.
From Google views, this looks demolished.
Currently it is boarded up – somewhat deteriorated but I’ve seen worse.
Interesting design – a long, narrow and low building – obviously all seating on one level – looks like it could have been a large ballroom originally – there are filled-in windows on the side.
From the google street view, the auditorium building has no windows punched into the sides – perhaps some of the original interior still exists?
Nothing on that section of street except houses. All to small to ever have been a 500-seat theatre
This is now the New Home Family Worship Center of Algiers.
They have an official web page up! Right now it doesn’t have much, outside of directions and a notice that the regular programming resumes in September.
The web page is:
http://www.paramountboston.org/
The lobby is also a form of art deco- a little unusual with the preponderance of varnished wood, but definitely art deco. In fact, some of the walls are original, with the others being recreations of the original.
The paramount is reopening! First event will be April 7, 2010, and more are on their calendar!
I posted too soon – according to the museum’s website, they HAVE been doing a lot of renovation in the auditorium during summer 2009 – including repairing and painting the plaster in a historic color theme.
The first link above is of the Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, WI, and the second is of the Orpheum, according to the photo captions. They are remarkably similar, and the Oprheum photo looks very recent. Have they been doing some renovations recently?? (The photos in the Jan 19 post the auditorium looks father tattered.
Nothing left of this one. Google maps show a car wash and parking lot at this site.
From the google street photos, it has quite an impressive widefront facade of fancy red brick and white stone. as of 3/24/10 is still a church, the bricks have all been cleaned – it looks obviously renovated. Windows in the auditorium area – they may have done major remodeling in the auditorium. Looks like a bad neighborhood – the doors along the front have roll-down corrugated gates. It is still home to Miracle Temple Pentacostal Church – at least they were having recitals there in 2009.
The current store in the front is selling office supplies. The drugstore appears to be gone now, -the theatre’s storefront is the only one left on this side of the block – all else is parking. But you can see the auditorium in back. people would walk straight back and turn turn right to enter the auditorium. From the air it looks big enough to seat at least 1,000. There is a small window in the side wall of the auditorium so it may be gutted inside. Then again they may have simply punched a small hole in the wall. The side that’s the back of the lobby is still complete – no windows.
The building still exists. From street level photos, it looks like a late 1920s construction – typical neighborhood theatre. The marquee is wrapped with a banner proclaiming “Our Lady of Sorrows Church” with a street number of 654. But there is painted plywood across the entrance with padlocks. Looks like the church has closed down or moved, but the building is still intact, and presumably also the interior.
Last time i checked, the cinema portion of this shop[ping center was still boarded up.
According to their website, even they do not know what happened to the organ. They estimate conservatively they draw 90,000 patrons per year.