Symphony Hall
1020 Broad Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
1020 Broad Street,
Newark,
NJ
07102
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favorited this theater
Built in 1925 for the Shriners as the Salaam Temple, it was inaugurated on September 8, 1925. The 2,800-seat main auditorium was decorated in Neo-Classical style, mixed with elements of Middle Eastern and Egyptian styles as well. The exterior of the Temple was an austere, soaring facade lined with six two-story tall Ionic columns.
Leased for use as a vaudeville and movie house early on by the Shriners, while they continued to meet in the large 1,000-seat ballroom area above the main auditorium, the Mosque Theater, as the Temple eventually became better known as, was easily one of Newark’s largest and most impressive-looking movie palaces.
In 1938, the auditorium began to be leased by the Griffith Music Foundation, hosting concerts and recitals at the Mosque, led by Mrs. Parker O. Griffith. Among those to appear on the Mosque’s stage during the Griffith era included George Gershwin, Vladimir Horowitz and Marian Anderson.
The theater fell into somewhat of a slump during the 60s, after the the death of Mrs. Griffith, and for a while, the future of the Mosque looked questionable. In the mid-70s, a concerned group of Newarkers joined forces with the City of Newark to save the theater from the fate of many of the city’s other movie palaces of the same era. Restoration work was begun slowly to bring the old venue back to its original appearance, as well as create more performance space out of other areas of the former Temple building (including another auditorium seating about 200 as well as a banquet hall/auditorium out of the former ballroom). The former Mosque Theatre’s main auditorium was rechristened the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall, and the name of the entire complex officially renamed the Newark Symphony Hall.
In addition to symphony concerts, the Hall today hosts pop concerts, live theater and dance, as well as many other events, and is one of the premier entertainment centers not just in Newark, but in the entire state.
Contributed by
Bryan Krefft
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Recent comments (view all 13 comments)
Photo from 2003:
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Listed as an endangered historic site on Preservation New Jersey:
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The act of listing 10 sites annually since 1995 acknowledges their importance to New Jersey and draws attention to their plight. Many sites have been saved as a direct result of being listed. To date, only two theaters have been listed – Symphony Hall & the Fabian in Paterson.
Saw Ella Fitzgerald in Concert here.
This is an undated photo of Symphony Hall. Judging from the cars in the photo, it could be from the 1970s. Click on the photo to expand it.
Old photos/misc:
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I did lighting for the concerts at Symphony hall starting with The Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield, Also did the Stone and all the other concerts there. I met the WHO opening for Herman’s Hermits and toured with them off and on for Forty Years. Any photo’s of cocnerts would be greatly appreciated.
R. Borders
It’s incredibly frustrating that Newark Symphony Hall’s own web site provides only one interior photo of the theater and not a very good one at that. If the theater is as beuatiful as they say it would make common sense to show it. Alas……
The old marquee on Symphony Hall should be restored. The current marquee is just hideous and emblematic of the surrounding area which also looks forlorn.
Crime at the Mosque Theater….
NY Times March 23, 1926
$10,000 ROBBERY IN NEWARK.; Six Thieves Open Safe While Seventh Guards Employes.
After working leisurely for more than two hours, while they held four men prisoners early yesterday morning, seven armed and masked men succeeded in tearing open a safe in the office of the Mosque Theatre, Broad Street, Newark, and escaping unmolested with approximately $10,000, the week-end receipts.
Hopefully they can raise the funds to fix up this grand old theater:
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