Westbury Theater
250 Post Avenue,
Westbury,
NY
11590
250 Post Avenue,
Westbury,
NY
11590
5 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 50 of 149 comments found
I honest-to-God never thought they’d actually go through with restoring it as an arts venue. This is a great thing!
Passed by the other day and progress is about the same as the last time I snapped some photos a couple of weeks back. I noticed that they are excavating behind the stage house on the northern side of the building. Perhaps making for a new loading bay or maybe working on upgrading utilities for the theater. The construction gate was left open on the southern side of the building where those large cuts were made in the auditorium wall. Unfortunately, there was a heavy downfall at the time I drove around, or I might have chanced a bit of trespass and snapped some interior pics with my phone.
Yeh, we know there’s a new roof, the interior was gutted and now they’re going to change the facade. And what do you suppose they’ll name this, literally, new space?
Seems that the Westbury’s tudor revival Post Avenue facade will be completely replaced with a modern take on art deco, according to the article. I was a little confused when it noted that the new developer was struck by the theater’s “bare proscenium” as being “glamorous” and “beautiful.” Did he fall in love with the ruins of the original interior and then proceed to gut the theater? Or was the building already gutted by previous owners and he was just struck by the beauty of the theater’s form and bare bones?
In any event, it seems that the new performing arts center will look radically different – both outside and in – from the house originally opened by the Salvatore Calderone back in 1927.
A New Stage for Old Theaters: nytimes
The street view needs to be reset to just around the corner, someone clicked “update” on the side instead of the front. The marquee and everything is still there.
In response to Ed Solero’s 4/24 posting regarding the status of the theatre’s interior, I can verify that nothing remains of any interior architectural elements. The interior was sadly gutted right down to the brick walls a few years ago.
nice picture Ed!! love the marquee!
Here’s a vintage image dated circa late 1930’s, showing the original marquee and Tudor Revival facade. Marquee has no titles, announcing only “Current Feature Attractions.”
This image is from the Calderone Theatre collection of Hofstra University’s Library, digitized for the excellent Long Island Librarry Resources Council’s Long Island Memories website.
Click on the image to zoom in for detail. Change the area of detail by clicking on the smaller thumbnail image to move the “red box” around.
I wonder if the restoration plans include a return to the original facade?
Snapped this pic and that one late Friday afternoon on the way home with my cell phone.
Chatted up a worker who was standing by the fence. There was a bit of a language barrier, but I gathered from the discussion that the original interior of the theater will be restored and preserved. So I imagine that, while the roof is still partially opened to the weather, the major interior architectural elements must be protected somehow from exposure.
wher did the Midmer-Losh organ go I wonder? maybe my friend organized to tell,he got in once to see it. it was a very small unit from what I understand?
roof looks really good, Ipassed it on way to holy Rood cemetery yesterday,wish I had my camera with me!
Drove past the theater again on my way home last night. Roof work has progressed, but the interior is still exposed at either end of the auditorium – again, unless there is some protective covering below the roof-line that can’t be seen from street-level.
Aha. Thanks, rvb. I thought I read a comment or description above that the theater had a balcony and loge. That makes more sense. From what I understand, they are going to have a removable wall between the orchestra and the rear stadium section so that the rear would operate as a movie theater while the front (and larger) portion of the house would serve for stage performances. The wall would be removable to allow use of the full space for greater seating capacity as needed.
Great photos. I concur that it’s unlikely that any of the original architecture is likely to exist with all the exposure to the elements. I was only in the Westbury once, before it was twinned. As I recall there was no balcony. Just sort of a stadium seating along the lines of the Plainview. Hence, no exterior fire escape stairs.
I passed this theater tonight on the way home and grabbed some shots with my cell phone. Restoration appears to be definitely under way, if in early stages. Seems that the old roof has been completely removed and replaced with new steel beams and framework. Several panels of steel roofing are in place, but much of the sides (particularly along the northern exposure) are left open to the elements. I wonder if any of the original interior elements are to be preserved in the renovations? If so, what kind of condition are they in (considering how long there have been gaping holes in the old roof and that the new roof is incomplete). Certainly, the original plaster ceiling must be completely gone.
Anyway, here are the photos:
Long shot of southern exposure
Stage fly tower
Post Ave facade
Marquee and entrance
Marquee closeup
Alt view Post Ave
Southern exposure
Entrance doors
Peak at rubble inside front door
Office door?
Southern wall doors
Fire exit
It’s not so easy to see in that photo labeled “peak at rubble,” but this is a glimpse through a gap of the white-washing on the front doors at the rubble strewn floor just inside the entrance. Looks like there is much to clean up within this building and I really wonder what survives of the original architecture. Also hard to tell from the photo, but I could clearly see daylight at the gap above the doors in the one labeled “fire exit.”
No tell tale markings are evident on the side walls that would indicate there was ever an exterior fire escape for the balcony. I presume the stairs were located within the shell of the building protected by interior fire walls and ventilation?
Would love to see vintage interior photos, if anyone has them.
Long time since we’ve heard about these renovations. Also the Paramount in Huntington. They seemed to have stopped work on the Suffolk in Riverhead. The Islip plan fell through as did the Patchogue Plaza with the latter rumored to be demolished in May.
Good Luck.
Unfortunately, the video can only be seen if one registers and pays subscription fees.
“WESTBURY THEATER REMODELING GETS UNDER WAYâ€
[Reported by: T.C. McCarthy – Newsday, 22 October 2010]
Westbury village officials broke ground Friday on the renovation of the Westbury Theater on Post Avenue as part of an effort to revitalize the strip.
The project has been in the planning stages for the past six years since Lowe Properties bought the deteriorating theater building at auction for about $1.7 million. The Tudor-style theater built in 1927 will be remodeled into a performing arts theater.
“I saw many a movie here,†said Louis Corte, who was born in 1927, the year the theater was built. He is a lifelong resident of Westbury. “We have been waiting for the past 10 years, believe me it’s about time.â€
Jim Mollitor also grew up in Westbury. He said he had seen some of his first movies at the old theater, including “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.†Mollitor, who just purchased a business on Post Avenue, said “I’m very excited for the avenue, I think it could be a very positive thing.â€
Village Mayor Peter Cavallaro said part of the reason it took so long to break ground on the old theater was because of a concern that the village lacked adequate parking on Post Avenue.
“We took a creative approach,†he said, explaining that the village has two large parking lots that are little used at night. He said the village will lease the lots to the theater’s owner at night when shows are being put on.
Cavallaro expects the work to take about a year, and he sees a grand opening ceremony about this time next year.
“It’s been a long time coming,†said Bridget Zaino, another lifelong resident of Westbury.
Related Newsday video report: “GROUNDBREAKING FOR THEATER IN WESTBURYâ€
Hopefully, we’ll be seeing similar reports in the VERY near future for other Long Island theatre projects, such as the Paramount in Huntington.
If they want to restore this theatre I would think someone would close up the huge hole in the roof. I drove by today and the snow was blowing in.
Here’s an update of the ongoing Westbury Theatre saga from the Westbury Times:
View link
Here’s the Westbury Times' take on the situation:
View link
I’m glad they are finally going forward with this project…we need to save our historic theaters.
Here’s the Newsday article mentioned above yesterday:
View link