Calvin Theatre

As a movie theatre the Calvin Theatre seated 1739 people.

The website listed above does not work. That official web page of the Calvin is http://www.iheg.com/

Thanks for letting us know, Roger. I've updated the link with the new address.

Anyone know of a great theater that is in need of renovation and is for sale?
Steve

Check out our For Sale news category, Steve. It lists several theaters that are for sale.

The Web Site lists the address for the Calvin as 19 King Street.

The first film I remember seeing at the Calvin was Annie in 1982. The last film I saw was Manhattan Murder Mystery at a "bargain" night shortly before the theatre's temporary close. There were serious problems with the sound system and Woody and Diane often went silent in mid-sentence. This is either bad or good, depending on your opinion of the two.

I remember leaving the place feeling very bad for the venerable old movie house, as you could just tell there was a hint of grandeur left in the place but it had just been neglected for so long. I haven't seen the place since its restoration and reopening, as most of their shows are too big-ticket for my wallet, but I'm glad to see it back in business.

An interior view of the Calvin theater can be seen here:
http://www.constructassociates.com/commercial4.htm

The Calvin was designed by the firm of Mowll and Rand. It opened on April 17, 1924. In the 1940s, it was part of Western Massachusetts Theatres. The 1998 refurbishment work was supervised by Northampton architect Thomas Douglas. The Calvin's website contains seating charts and a rough count of the seats which I made totalled about 1,350. With the smaller seat widths in the "old days' and closer pitch between rows, the original seat-count in 1924 could have been over 1700.

This is a photo of the Calvin Theater.

The Calvin has been beautifully restored. It never looked too shabby even in its final cinema days, but there was major work needed for the physical plant. They did an extensive job, and now the Calvin has a regular program of concerts, plays, musicals and even occasional films!

The architect for the Calvin restoration is Thomas Douglas. You can get info and see images on the firms website, www.tdouglasarchitects.com Look under "Perform".

The restoration of the auditorium was very well done. Unusual color scheme (yellow & gold primarily with various muted shades of green & white trim, but a whole lot better than the original appearance, and the color scheme extended to the formerly all dark brown ceiling. The place is certainly brightened up! The first thing i saw entering the outer lobby was they removed the drop ceiling of the 1960s, revealing the former two-story lobby ceiling which had been hidden for decades.

Nathan Goldstein had renovated the lobby areas in the early 1980s, and actually did a very good job - the walls were painted with cream color paint that must have had mica mixed in because the walls literally sparkeled (it was muted and tasteful, not ostentatious) - it really looked nice and I wish they had kept that effect in the latest renovation. But they still did a great job.

The Calvin showed 2nd run movies as far back as I could remember (1970s - of course all theatres in Amherst/Northampton were 2nd run in those days), and remained 2nd run when the Hadley malls finally became 1st run. Although they did get a 1st run of Star Trek: the Motion picture in 1979 (originally was to be the exclusive booking in the area but the malls got it too). This drew some good crowds - in the 600-700 range - but still not enough for them to open the balcony. I had to wait until 1980 and an arlo guthrie concert to get upstairs (still had seats from the 1930s up there!) When they started showing occasional concerts in the early 1980s it was reported that until the end stage had been unused since the 1920s.

Before ther renovation, it was mostly cream color and the wall columns had blue background with dingy gold paint sloppily applied over the decorative motifs (vines and fruit, a simpler version of some decorations at the wonderful Wang (nee Metropolitan) theatre in Boston, MA. ) The ceiling was a dark marblized brown color. The areas between the columns had square accoustic tiling in a nice harlqeuin (read tilted 45 degrees) pattern going up about a third of the way, which I (in my architectural ignorance of 20 years ago) assumed had been original with possibly damask fabric above (which actually wouldn't look that bad - the walls are a little bare now).

Here is a close-up view of the Calvin at night.

This is a recent photo of the Calvin Theater.

Here is the Calvin from another angle.

The Calvin Theater can be seen in this 2007 photo.

Here is a 1979 photo:
http://tinyurl.com/cslkzk

No year is given for this photo so feel free to guess at it.

The photo must be from 1986 since it is showing the movie DOWN AND OUT IN BEVERLY HILLS

Just saw an interior photo of the restoration. The theatre looks beautiful.

This is another photo that claims to be from 1979.

The photo is from 1976 since that is the date the movie on the marquee was released.