Loew's Metropolitan Theatre
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
392 Fulton Street,
Brooklyn,
NY
11201
13 people
favorited this theater
Showing 151 - 175 of 185 comments found
Getting back to the entrance debate for this theater. If you read the opening night ad that Warren linked to on Jul 8, 2005 at 9:39am, you will see that this theater actually had 3 entrances when it opened. The ad reads “THREE” entrances, One on Fulton, one on Smith and one on Livingston St. Was Fulton St always the main entrance or was it made the main entrance at a later date? Something must have changed over the years because the property searches that I did previously only show Fulton St and Smith St for this property. There is no current report for Livingston St.
A 1954 ad for “Julius Caeser” and “Gypsy Colt"
View link
Here’s an opening ad from 1917 from a Brooklyn newspaper:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/443af792.jpg
Bruce 1 or lostmmeory;
You may want to get the number of the building across the street. It may be only one digit down from it.
Okay, if you can’t get the exact address for the property that you want me to look up, try to get the address of a building next to it or close to it. If I have at least one address for the block, I can try to trace it by lot number.
Lostmemory—The properties are right behind Bedford Avenue on Erasmus Street, but there is no address listed. A sign on the fence just lists the name of the developer! I will try to get a street-address.
Bruce1…..Sorry I didn’t see your message sooner but I have been very busy lately and I have alot of catching up to do as far as reading messages are concerned. If there are specific properties that you want me to look up, post the addresses and I’ll see what I can find. Sometimes the owners listed on property reports are not the “true” owners. They could be real estate agencies or even a made up company to hide the real owner’s identity. I just wanted you to know that up front.
I have seen some record books that showed the Metropolitan as a department store prior to becoming a cinema in the late teens. They were taken away from a “cinema historian” who visted my office in the late nineties and then disappeared with them.
Asshole!
The filing could have been by address. All buildings on that site would be in the same file, which doesn’t necessarily mean that they were one original building that was “converted” over and over again. If you walk around the sides of the Metropolitan on Smith and Livingston Streets, you will see that this was a purpose-built theatre, and not converted from a previously existing building.
Below is a slightly edited version of this discussion that has been on the Brooklyn Paramount page:
*‘Loew’s Metropolitan’ was originally a department store. posted by Bruce1 on May 2, 2005 at 9:59pm
*I don’t think Loew’s Metropolitan was ever a department store.
posted by saps on May 3, 2005 at 7:40pm
*I have added details on the Loew’s Metropolitan page.
posted by KenRoe on May 4, 2005 at 6:36am
*I spent a lot of time with the architect hired by the last owners of the Loew’s Metropolitan as they prepared to correct the sight lines for the multiplex. While doing her research, she could not find the ‘original blueprints’ filed by Thomas Lamb. By the way, Lamb signed his name bigger than any signer of the Constitution.
She literally haunted the Municipal Archives till they discovered the blueprints under ‘revisions’. The Loew’s Met was originally built around 1914, but at that time it was positively a department store! posted by Bruce1 on May 4, 2005 at 9:02am
*Loew’s Metropolitan occupied the site of a department store, but it was not a conversion. The department store was totally demolished, and then the theatre was built on the underlying ground.
posted by Warren on May 4, 2005 at 9:34am
*That may be, but all the blueprints were missing when the search was made under ‘new’ construction and were later found under an earlier date, referencing the original construction.
posted by Bruce1 on May 11, 2005 at 8:24am
Dear Lostmemory,
If you check the message board for the Loew’s Kings, you might want to join our efforts to Save The Kings. Obviously, you know how to check NYC real estate records as to lot and block number .. and with your co-operation, we could discover WHO is buying up all the property AROUND the Loew’s Kings.
My research has shown which property has been recently bought, but I need your help in finding who did the buying! Having this information will help our group in seeking the cooperation of a developer willing to restore the Loew’s Kings as the Kings County Center for the Performing Arts.
Bruce1 –
Okay, I checked the deeds for 392 Fulton St and 17 Smith St. The deed for 392 Fulton St returns an “Invalid Address” The deed for 17 Smith St reads “aka 392 Fulton St”. They are both the same property. The 392 Fulton St address that the City report shows as a store built in 1950 is actually 390 Fulton St. Either 392 is now a dead address or NYC thinks that it is. I should have known that something was wrong since the tax info for Smith St is zero and the tax info for the Fulton St address is $81,060. Both addresses should have read zero taxes for the Church.
No, the Fulton Street entrance is still used when the church has ‘busy’ services. Plus, with a capacity of over 3,500 I would think that the authorities would never allow for exits to be removed.
Are you sure this isn’t the theater with the wheels on it that was rolled down Flatbush Ave? (just kidding) Is it possible that the main entrance to the theater was converted to a store when the Church took over the property? Then the Church could use Smith St as the main entrance to the Church.
The main entrance was ALWAYS on Fulton Street for as long as the Met operated as a theatre. If you stood on Fulton Street facing the theatre, to its right was a large Woolworth’s, which looked like it might have been built (or modernized) in the 1950s. It’s possible that the addresses were modified to accommodate that building.
Thanks for the explanation. So, 392 Fulton St was the Main entrance and 17 Smith St was a side or rear exit/entrance. I’m okay with that, but NYC lists the store at 392 Fulton as being built in 1950. When did this theater close? If it closed after 1950, how did the store become 392 Fulton St. If the theater was still open in 1950, was the Main entrance switched to 17 Smith St in 1950? I might change my screen name to just plain “Lost”!
lostmemory;
The address used today as the main entrance to the church at 17 Smith Street is what I believe was originally an additional entrance/exit which originally served the rear orchestra level of the theatre. It is around the corner to the original main entrance on Fulton Street and retains its original decorations.
The main original entrance to the theatre at 392 Fulton Street (now I believe known as Fulton Mall)serves today as a supplementary entrance/exit. For some reason the original facade on this entrance was taken down and rebuilt to a simpler design and the marquee removed when the theatre was being transformed into the Tabernacle Church. If memory serves me right there is a low one storey retail building adjacent to this entrance which could be the current #392 you describe in the property report above.
It’s possible that the church now uses a Smith Street address, but the main entrance to Loew’s Metropolitan was always on Fulton Street. At one time, it also had a second boxoffice and entrance at the corner of Smith & Livingston Streets.
This link will verify the Church address:
View link
The building that the Church is located in has a build date of 1917. Also, if the Brooklyn Tabernacle Church is located in this former theater, the address above is incorrect. The Church is located at 17 Smith St. The following are the property reports for 392 Fulton St and 17 Smith St. 392 Fulton St is a one story store built in 1950.
392 Fulton Street, Brooklyn Heights, New York 11201
Block & Lot #: 00155 – 0012
Building Class: Miscellaneous Store Building (K9)
School District: 15 map/schools
City Council District: 33
Police Precinct: 84 (Crime Statistics)
Political Contributions: search
BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS
Zoning C5-4
Building Size (F x D): 26.00ft x 150.00ft
Lot Size (F x D): 26.00ft x 150.25ft
Building Height: –
Total Gross Area of Building:
Year Built: 1950
Historic District?: No
Corner Lot?: No
Has Garage?: No
Number of Floors: 1
Units: 0
FAR as built: 2.00
Allowable FAR: 10.00
17 Smith Street, Brooklyn Heights, New York 11201
Block & Lot #: 00155 – 0005
Building Class: Church, Synagogue, Chapel (M1)
School District: 15 map/schools
City Council District: 33
Police Precinct: 84 (Crime Statistics)
Political Contributions: search
BUILDING CHARACTERISTICS
Zoning C5-4
Building Size (F x D): 28.00ft x 150.00ft
Lot Size (F x D): 57.00ft x 200.00ft
Building Height: –
Total Gross Area of Building:
Year Built: 1917
Historic District?: No
Corner Lot?: No
Has Garage?: No
Number of Floors: 5
Units: 0
FAR as built: 4.51
Allowable FAR: 10.00
They did not convert a department store into a theatre. Most, if not all, of the department store was demolished, and the theatre was built on the underlying ground. It’s possible that part of the original building facing on Fulton Street was saved and used for stores. The entrance and lobby is in the center of the block and fairly narrow. But this and the auditorium housing were totally new. 15,000 tons of steel and 5 million bricks were used in its construction. You could not build a “modern,” fireproof theatre that seated more than 3,500 people and was fully equipped to play any type of stage attraction in an old store that dated back to the 19th century. For more on this, see an article in the September 15, 1918 issue of The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. At the time, Loew’s Metropolitan was claimed to be the largest purpose-built cinema in North America (USA and Canada).
wow! That was a great conversion who would ever thought in those days that you could convert an old department store an excisting structure into a movie palace.
The Loew’s Metropolitan Theatre opened on 15th September 1918. It was not a ‘new build’, but a conversion by Thomas Lamb of the old Matthew’s Department Store that takes up virtually an entire city block. At the time of opening it was the largest theatre in Brooklyn (3,580 seats).
The Duffield Theatre was on a side street in downtown Brooklyn, and is probably the one that hardbop is thinking of. It has its own listing here.
There is a huge Regal multiplex that opened in the area.
With all the office workers in the Metroplex office complex adjacent to the downtown Brooklyn pedestrian mall it is a shame that downtown Brooklyn has declined. Gage & Tollner, a classic NYC restaurant, couldn’t make a go of it and closed its doors not all that long ago.
I remember walking around downtown Brooklyn in the eighties and there was another theater that may or may not have even been open in downtown Brooklyn on one of the side streets over near the Albee Square Mall. It might have been a single-screen theatre. What was the name of that theatre?