Westbury Theater
250 Post Avenue,
Westbury,
NY
11590
250 Post Avenue,
Westbury,
NY
11590
5 people
favorited this theater
Built in 1927, the Westbury Theatre was one of (at least six) Calderone Theaters in Nassau County, Long Island (Westbury, Glen Cove, Lynbrook, Mineola, two in Hempstead including the Calderone Concert Hall).
The theater was designed by architect Douglas Pairman Hall in a unique medieval-Tudor style that remains evident to this day. The beautiful and expansive auditorium originally seated 1,600 and included orchestra, loge and balcony sections.
Twinned "down the middle" in the late-1970’s, the theater managed to make the conversion without altering much of the interior. However, for the last 20 years, it continued to lose patronage as the current owners ran it into the ground, failing to make repairs and charging first run prices for second run fare. A loss of customers initially and incredulously came to a head in the late-1980’s following a much publicized local debacle in which the theater owner called the police to have a senior citizen customer forcibly removed from the auditorium after he refused to give up his cough drops! The windfall from this affair, coupled with the construction of nearby multiplexes ultimately left the Westbury Theater for broke.
In 2001, with crowds dwindling and the leaks growing, the Westbury was forced to shut its doors, having been cited for various building safety code violations. The future of the theater is now uncertain. While the very same owners would actually like to save and restore the theater, and, according to the marquee have formed a campaign for this purpose, it appears as though it might be too little, too late. Years of neglect, a seemingly disinterested local neighborhood, the shaky relationship that appears to exist between the theater owners and local businesses and politicians, and finally, the real estate allure of the location make a second act unlikely for this old neighborhood gem.
By October 2010, work had begun on demolition of the dividing walls in the auditorium, restoration and clean-up, with a formal ‘ground breaking’ ceremony held on October 22 to convert into a performing arts center.
Contributed by
Marty Nartinez
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Recent comments (view all 132 comments)
Passed by the other day and progress is about the same as the last time I snapped some photos a couple of weeks back. I noticed that they are excavating behind the stage house on the northern side of the building. Perhaps making for a new loading bay or maybe working on upgrading utilities for the theater. The construction gate was left open on the southern side of the building where those large cuts were made in the auditorium wall. Unfortunately, there was a heavy downfall at the time I drove around, or I might have chanced a bit of trespass and snapped some interior pics with my phone.
I honest-to-God never thought they’d actually go through with restoring it as an arts venue. This is a great thing!
Passed by again and seems they’ve extended the back of the rear stage wall to the lot line with a 1-story cinderblock structure that has a large opening on the south side. I presume this will be a bay for loading in productions. Other than that, the building looks much like it did in the most recent photos I posted from July.
On my way to work yesterday morning, took a glance down Winthrop Street, which runs along the southern side of the theater where those huge cuts were made exposing the interior. They have framed out a rather large 2-story addition that runs almost the length of the auditorium side wall and looks like it will feature a peaked roof line. The Post Avenue facade and lobby/storefront structure remains untouched behind scaffolding.
Just uploaded a few pics of the recent progress along the rear and southern side of the building.
Passed by again the other morning. They have begun to strip the Post Avenue facade of its Tudor-style elements. Several large portions of the upper floor have been stripped down to the wood studs. The lower floor and marquee remain more or less intact behind the scaffolding.
It’s been announced that the Westbury Performing Arts Center will open in March 2012. After an 8 million dollar plus renovation the theatre will have approximately 400 seats in the orchestra and 300 in the balcony. There will be a Broadway sized procenium stage.
The entire upper floor of the formerly tudor-styled Post Avenue facade has been stripped to its wood frame. A great deal of the cement work seems to have been completed on the addition on the south side of the auditorium, as well. Unfortunately, with the recent time change, it was too dark to snap any photos the last couple of times I passed by on my way home from work.
Finally captured and some images the other morning that I’ve uploaded to document progress on the renovations. Post Avenue structure is now completely down to studs and beam framing. Also looks as if the marquee has been taken away (can’t tell behind the construction shedding if the frame is still there – I imagine it would be needed to support a new marquee). The new addition on the south side of the auditorium is now clad in insulation panels, but much clearing of debris and some excavation is still ongoing at the property.
Seems to me that completion by March of this year will be a tall order for the contractor to meet! That’s only 2 short months away!
I can’t find any updates online regarding the opening of the new Performing Arts Center here. I passed by this morning, once again, and the site appears just about the same as it was on January 12th, when I took the most recent round of photos. Can’t really say what the progress is on the interior, but there’s still a lot of work required to finish the exterior, for sure. The entire facade on Post Avenue is still exposed down to the bare wood frame, and the new structure on the south-side of the audtorium is still clad in exposed insulation panels. I can’t imagine this is still on pace for a grand opening within the next 4 – 6 weeks.