Wollaston Theatre
14 Beale Street,
Quincy,
MA
02170
14 Beale Street,
Quincy,
MA
02170
13 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: M & P Theaters, Paramount Pictures Inc., Publix
Architects: Edwin H. McEwan
Styles: Neo-Classical
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jul 6, 2009 — The Wollaston Theater has been sold
- Dec 22, 2008 — Second act for Wollaston
Opened on November 15, 1926 with Pauline Frederick in “Devil’s Island” & Keith vaudeville on the stage. This single screen theatre operated in recent years as a discount house and as a venue for live performances. It was closed on March 10, 2003 with Elijah Wood in “Lord of the Rings:The Two Towers”, to enable roof repairs (which were never carried out).
As of 2008, it was for sale, and was sold in 2009, with proposals for possible reopening. Sadly, this was not to be and the building was demolished in June 2016.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.
Recent comments (view all 168 comments)
Demolition began about June 1st. First action was to remove the seats, then they began to gut out the interior. The failure to save “The Wolly” all boils down to one important thing: $$$$ Money $$$.
What will be built on this site? Is there a news story about it?
Ron Newman- Plans are not firm to build anything on the site- Owner is mulling possibilities. He purchased the theater to raze it or convert it into a large Asian foodmarket, but then his original older plan to convert a factory in N. Quincy has recently been approved after a long struggle. So now he has two sites. There are vague plans to save and sell off some artifacts from the “Wolly” at some future date. See Quincy Patriot Ledger, Sat. June 4 2016 edition.
Sadly the theatre was demolished. I went by today and took some pictures. It’s rather devastating. Nothing left. Smashed to bits. History. I wrote a blog post if you are interested in seeing it. http://www.analisamendmentblog.com/history-demolished-disrespected-wollaston-theatre/
The Wollaston Theatre was the subject of the “Whatever happened to…?” feature in the Quincy Patriot Ledger of Oct. 30. The text mentions that when the theatre was sold to Arthur & Yvonne Chandler in 1979 it had been owned by the Edward Sears family for 50 years. There is an undated photo of the entrance and marquee listing the movie “Grease” Wed thru Tuesday; the movie “Fluffy” at 2PM Sat and Sunday; and a stage show at 730PM on Sunday. The text mentions that although it was demolished several years ago, there is still nothing on the site today, but there are plans for condos.
Yvonne Chandler, co-owner of the Wolly with her husband Arthur, passed away a few weeks ago. She used to run the ticket booth in the latter days of the theater, while Arthur ran concessions and the projector. My wife and I’d go for Dollar Nights (Tuesdays?) and have a cheap date with a slice of pizza on the corner, a dish of ice cream at Brigham’s, and perhaps some pastries to take home from O'Brien’s Bakery. All gone now, and that was less than 20 years ago.
Have the condos (or anything else) been built on this site yet?
Nope, nothing there.
Once operated by Publix.
The Wollaston Temple Theatre had begun showing films on Feb. 22, 1918 when a decision was made to build a new facility next door. The New Wollaston Theatre launched there on November 15, 1926 with Pauline Frederick in “Devil’s Island” and Keith vaudeville acts. NETOCO took on the venue in 1930 which was subsumed soon after by Publix as Public NETOCO and then Paramount.
The Wolly made it all the way to March 10, 2003 (!) when it closed for roof repairs by owner Arthur M. Chandler and his wife after showtimes of second-run feature, Lord of the Rings 2. Unfortunately, the operator passed and the road was not a good one for the aged venue. It was ultimately knocked over in the Summer of 2016.