Capitol Theater

I really love this site! However I would love to see photos of the interiors of these theatres instead of just the marquee. That's what holds the fascination for me. Okay, I also have a collection of theatres (movie and live performance) and I'm always on the prowl for more.

Keep up the good work!

Best,
Don Wagner

The Capitol Theatre is located at 906 S. Main Street and it seated 1155 people.

Unfortunately the entire interior to this beautiful theatre has been gutted as part of the renovations. A new, much smaller, auditorium space will be built inside along with many classrooms for the arts school that will now be housed in the building. See photos of construction as it progresses ar http://www.crklewin.com/projects/p_d_sheets/p_arts/index.html and see a virtual tour of what the auditorium will look like when completed at http://www.eastconn.org/Prekstudents_ACT_tour.htm . It is a shame that they had to demolish the interior and rebuild it much smaller to make room for the school. They should have done what the new arts school in Waterbury at the Palace Theatre has done: completely restore the old theatre and build classrooms in a new building next door.

Bryan you need to update the address and seating as posted by William on Nov. 19,2003

Done, and I'm not Bryan ;)

Sorry Sean, just used to communicating with Bryan.

I have very mixed feelings about the conversion of the Capitol. When I moved to the area in 1971 the theatre was in basically sound condition but many furnishings had been removed and there was some water damage.

The interior was lovely, though. It had an unusually wide aspect and a fabulous balcony with grand marble staircases. A very large stage grid system and basement dressing rooms gave promise of a wide variety of events capable of being presented some day.

Later a town committee was charged with restoring the theatre. Instead of that happening, Eastconn - a powerful regional educational organization - commandeered the process and changed the plan to the current one, which ruined the magnificent theatre in order to build the arts magnet school.

As a UCLA theatre arts graduate myself I welcome the school and think it provides a wonderful opportunity for youth in the area. But it should have been built in one of the several empty office buildings nearby and the theatre renovated as a community asset as well as a showcase for the students. That would have been a real win-win.

Instead we have a very nice magnet school but have lost the sole remaining grand classic theatre left of the four that once graced this charming little mill town. My comment at the time this was proposed was "Must we destroy the Capitol Theatre in order to save it?"

The theater has since reopened as a performing arts school. The building was entirely gutted to a shell and a new theater was built within the frame. The orginal theater was lost although many of the orginal fixtures fomr the orginal theater were preserved and re installed. The neon CAPITAL letters from the marquee now adorn the wall outside the theater. Many light fixtures from the orginal theaters lobby now hang in the new theater's lobby. So in a sense the orginal Capital still lives on, a much better result thatn to loose the building all together

Does the Capitol back up to the railroad tracks in Willimantic? I am a railfan and have seen several books which feature color rail photos taken in the 1940s and 1950s. In those taken in Willimantic there is a big theatre with a tall stage-house in the immediate background. The rear stage wall overlooked the railroad yard. Is it the Capitol Theatre??

It sure does back up to the tracks - but the pictures you have seen might not be the Capital. In the 50's there were two movie theaters side by side: facing them, the Gem was on the left of the Capitol. Both used to border an alley in back where the tracks ran behind a tall chain link fence. Willimantic was such a great place to be a kid until the mills started having union problems. When I was only 10 or 11 my mother would give me .45 on Saturday afternoon and my friend Pam and I would head for the Gem. (We weren't allowed at the Capital: that's where the 'dirty movies' were ;)

Looks like they are open and showing movies

http://www.windhamarts.org/mambo/content/view/94/83/

ConnSwampYankee- thanks for responding to my question regarding the rail tracks. In the photos I have seen, some in color, the theatre had a big stage, the roof of which towered over the auditorium. I didn't realize that there were two theatres there, side by side.

The address that I found for this theater is:

896 Main St
Willimantic, CT 06226

Here is some history that I found on the Capitol Theater:

"Capitol Theater

This building is one of Willimantic's most famous buildings. Constructed during the vaudeville era, movies were shown, then vaudeville acts would entertain the crowds. The Capitol Theater opened its doors to the public on January 12, 1926 and was a grand theater boasting a marble staircase, brass lighting fixtures, a balcony and promenade, and a ladies retiring room and gentlemen's smoking room. The 1,224 leather seats, 800 on the main floor, 400 on the second floor, were all designed to give a good view. There were also four private boxes, six seats in each. The stage is 80 feet wide and 36 feet deep. The luxurious Capitol Theater was so popular it was often the cause of other theaters closing. The back of the stage (see bottom picture to the left) rose higher than the rest of the building so the sets could be hoisted out of the way when not in use. In 1930 the Capitol stopped doing vaudeville acts, just showing movies. The first movie shown at the Capitol was "His Secretary". The last movies to show at the Capitol were "Paper Moon" and "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". The American Thread Company rented the theater annually for their Christmas parties. The theater closed its doors on October 20, 1973".

Should be listed as open now.

This architectural website has some photos:
http://tinyurl.com/4ot4yr

Here is a website. The address is 896 Main Street.

The year given for this photo is 1986.