Bowdoin Square Theatre
Bowdoin Square,
Boston,
MA
Bowdoin Square,
Boston,
MA
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A lost theatre of Boston’s Scollay Square, it is mentioned very briefly in David Kruh’s book “Always Something Doing: A History of Boston’s Infamous Scollay Square”.
If you have any information about this theatre, please post it. It started out as a vaudeville stage, but I believe movies were later shown in it.
In the early 1960s, nearly every building in Scollay Square, including all of its stage and movie theatres, was demolished to make way for Boston’s Government Center.
Contributed by
Ron Newman
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
The Olympic is not mentioned in the Donald King book, either. I once saw a sharp old photo taken from the north (west?) looking south (east?) with the Olympic in the foreground and the Bowdoin Sq. Theatre at the far end of the block. The Olympic had an arched entrance just like the Bowdoin’s. I have no idea what sort of shows it presented; possibly Vaude at first, with films later ???
The Bowdoin Square Theatre had a small ad in the theatre page of the Boston Post for Wed. February 25, 1931. There were 2 movies plus 7 acts of Vaudeville on stage, with the further note that “Tonight is Cabaret Night – Extra Vaudeville Acts”. It must have made for a rather long show, unless they omitted one of the movies at the evening performance.
In his 1977 book “Broadway Down East” Elliot Norton states that the Bowdoin closed on Friday, May 27, 1955. Norton has very few closing dates in his book, so he must have made a note of this one. If there had been any advance publicity of the closing, I would probably have attended.
The Bowdoin Square Theatre is also shown on this 1895 map. It is on Court Street, three buildings away from Chardon Street.
Note that the nearby Palace Theatre is also on the 1895 map, at Sudbury and Court streets, east side.
The Bowdoin Square Theatre is listed in the 1897-98 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide. The seating capacity is listed as 1,600. Admission prices range from 25 cents to $1. The theatre had both electric and gas lighting. The proscenium opening was 32 feet wide x 34 feet high. The stage was 40 feet deep. The theatre was on the ground floor and there were 10 places in the orchestra pit.
There is a rather long article entitled “Boston Theatres of To-Day” by Atherton Brownell in the Sept. 1895 issue of Bostonian Magazine. It has 2 photos of the Bowdoin Square Theatre, one exterior and one interior. Plus one sketch of the box office area in the lobby. It’s hard to tell, but in the exterior shot, the arch above the entrance appears to be open and not filled in. Th entrance was very fancy, but not very wide. It was at the left end of a building. The interior shot was made by someone standing in the right-front orchestra area looking toward the front portion of the left side-wall of the auditorium. It was quite ornate. The proscenium arch appears to be rectangular. Next to its left edge was a large arch with columns on each side. At the bottom of the arch were 2 big boxes on the orchestra floor. Above them were 5 small boxes which dropped like stair treads from the front of the first balcony down to the right end of the arch. At the top of the arch was a chandelier. Very nice auditorium, now gone for over 50 years.
In a 1918 Boston street directory, the Bowdoin Square Theatre is listed at “0” Bowdoin Square. Its office is listed at 183 Court St. To the left of its lobby entrance was the Hotel Coolidge.
This theater’s entrance and lobby were constructed in an existing building which dated back to at least 1860. In the book “Boston Then and Now” (Dover 1982) there are photos dating from 1860, 1925, and 1934. The theater entrance is missing from the first photo.
This theatre is mapped on the wrong Bowdoin Street (Dorchester, not Beacon Hill), far from where it belongs.