Driggs Palace

206 Driggs Avenue,
Brooklyn, NY 11222

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Additional Info

Functions: Housing, Retail

Nearby Theaters

The Brooklyn Theatre Index, published in 2010, briefly notes that a theater existed at this location 206-208 Driggs Avenue, from 1913 through 1918. A two story residential building, with a store on the first floor, and a one story taxpayer occupy this site today.

Any other information regarding this theater will be greatly appreciated.

Contributed by John Dereszewski

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

johndereszewski
johndereszewski on January 16, 2011 at 6:42 am

This must have been an extremely modest endeavor that probably provided little more than nickleodium type fare to the public during its brief existence. If it did not appear in the Index, I am sure that absolutely no one in Greenpoint would have remembered that a theater once stood here.

Since the facade of the residential building that I referenced in the introduction has been drastically re-worked, it is very difficult to determine its age. (Hopefully, Building Dept. records could shed some light here.) Unless, however, this was, in fact, a really tiny operation, I just do not see how this building could have housed a movie theater. But who knows?

johndereszewski
johndereszewski on January 16, 2011 at 7:42 am

A perusal of the Building Dept. data does shed some useful light on this item.

First, both 206 and 208 Driggs share a common building lot number. This clearly implies that a single structure, presumably the movie theater, once occupied this site.

Secondly, in 1934, two C of O’s were simultaneously issued for this lot. The first concerned the “New Construction” for a brick residential structure, the current configuration at 206. The second speaks of an “Alteration” involving a one-story commercial building, the situation that currently exists at 208.

Given this, it seems more than plausable that the building that once housed the theater was essentially cut in two at that time, with one half demolished and replaced by the 206 Driggs residence and the other converted to new commercial use at 208 Driggs. If this is the case, the best description for this site could well be “partially demolished”.

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