Carib Theatre

Cross Roads,
Kingston

1 person favorited this theater

With John Pike as architect, the Carib was one of the most unusual atmospheric theatres ever built. The walls and ceiling of the auditorium were designed to create the illusion of being under the Caribbean sea, looking up at the surface. The auditorium was also egg-shaped, with the front end shirred off to create a circular stage area, which was fully equipped for live performances in support of the movies.

When the Carib Theatre first opened in April, 1938, it was the largest building of any kind on the island of Jamaica. Its huge interior measured 1 million cubic feet! The 1,750 seats were divided among the orchestra, balcony, and a small mezzanine that was situated along the right wall. The Carib was reported to be the highest-grossing movie theatre in the entire Caribbean. In 1954, its round proscenium had to be demolished to permit installation of a 54 feet wide CinemaScope screen. In 1982, a new sound system was installed that experts claimed was one of the best in the world due to the acoustics of the egg-shaped auditorium.

Sadly, in 1997, the interior of the Carib was totally destroyed in a fire that started in the ceiling. The exterior walls were saved, and now contain five cinemas operated by the Palace Amusement Company, Ltd.

Contributed by Warren G. Harris

Recent comments (view all 7 comments)

Janiehub on November 21, 2004 at 1:06 pm

I was trying to find out if one of the architects that design the Carib theatre was Kenneth Simmons. You can contact me at

Janevonne Hubbard

Greenpoint on December 19, 2004 at 7:04 pm

Caribe Theare can be seen directly in the backround towards the end of the 1976 film “Rockers”. This was a modern-day Robin Hood story with a happy reggae soundtrack and alot of Rastafarians smoking massive ammounts of marijuana. It also featured an all-star cast of reggae legends including Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace, Richard “Dirty Harry” Hall,Jacob Miller,Gregory Issacs,Burning Spear,Kiddus I, Robbie Shakespeare.

kencmcintyre on February 3, 2006 at 5:54 pm

This appears to be a new theater near Kingston:
http://www.islandvillageja.com/villagetheatre.htm

kencmcintyre on September 28, 2007 at 7:53 am

Here is a March 1980 ad from the Kingston Daily Gleaner:
http://tinyurl.com/2mvl8d

kencmcintyre on January 14, 2008 at 4:08 pm

There are photos of the Carib on the Palace website:
http://tinyurl.com/2fcdl4

lostmemory on August 20, 2008 at 7:20 am

Here is a recent photo.