Congress Theatre
328 Broadway,
Saratoga Springs,
NY
12866
328 Broadway,
Saratoga Springs,
NY
12866
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In around 1937, the Congress Theatre was remodeled by architect William H. Vaughan for the Walter Reade Organisation.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
The Community was at 517 Broadway and had 1,117 seats, according to Film Daily Year Books. If built by Walter Reade, I suspect that it was in American Colonial style and similar to his Community Theatre in Hudson, NY.
Luis: I have a few memories of it as a child. It had a spare, modern feel to it, with a big heavy set of velvet drapes. And I seem to recall a large neon clock over one of the exit doors, just to the left of the stage.
We have a large repository of historical photographs at our local history museum here in Saratoga Springs. I do have two copies of photos of the interior of the Congress Theater (neither showing the organ, unfortunately). I will check to see if they have any photos of the interior of the Community Theater.
If somebody wants to add the Community Theatre, it was a Thomas Lamb design. A brief item about Reade’s intention to build the house appeared in Boxoffice, December 26, 1936. The item is on the left page, about the middle of the middle column.
An August 7, 1937, Boxoffice item says this about the Congress Theatre: “Within a week after the opening of his new Community here, Walter Reade announced that he has purchased for $200,000 cash the Congress Theatre and office building which, when he takes possession late this fall, will give him two first-run theatres in this famed city of horse racing.”
The Congress Theatre was remodeled about the time Reade bought it. There are before-and-after photos in Boxoffice of January 8, 1938. The design was by architect William H. Vaughan.
Vaughan, incidentally, was named for his grandfather, who had also been an architect and had designed a number of important buildings in Saratoga Springs, including the United States Hotel.
You can see some photos of the remains of the theatre today…
http://www.christinairene.com/saratogasprings.html
Is this building really the Congress Theatre or is it some other unknown theatre? The address I have for the Congress was 328 Broadway, but the building above clearly shows an address of 260 Broadway.
Here is a picture of the Congress from a recent article about theaters in Saratoga Springs that appeared in the Times Union.
Refreshed link to 1938 photos cited above by Joe Vogel: Boxoffice
Featured again in 1938 in this trade ad for Libbey-Owens-Ford products: Boxoffice
As a kid I remember the Congress Theater sitting on the corner of Broadway and Spring St across from the old library, later it became the House Of Gee which was a chinese restaurant and they use the old huge marquee sign to advertise their restaurant, and I had many fun times at the Community Threater seeing movies and even live shows….