Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts
71 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
71 East Main Street,
Patchogue,
NY
11772
3 people
favorited this theater
The Patchogue Theatre opened on May 23, 1923 as a vaudeville theatre showcasing the biggest stars of the day. The interior was extremely elegant. The lobby had five crystal chandeliers. The main auditorium had a main balcony, Juliette balconies, pipe organ, and an orchestra pit. During the Depression, sound equipment was installed.
In the late 1950’s, the Patchogue Theater had a fire, and the lobby was destroyed. The theater reopened soon after, but with a much more modest lobby. Although much of the opulent interior was covered over with sheetrock and plywood in the auditorium, thankfully, it all remained underneath to be rediscovered years later.
In the early 1980’s, the main floor was divided in two, and the ceiling was extended to create a third screen in the balcony. This metamorphasis didn’t last long as the theater closed in the late 1980’s.
After standing vacant for a few years, it was discovered that after the fire in the 1950’s, they had simply covered the old ornamentation with sheetrock, and underneath was still the glory of the Patchogue Theatre.
By the late 1990’s, the Patchogue Theatre was was completely restored to its 1923 appearance, complete with restored exterior facade and marquee, and reopened in 1999 as the Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts where they show Broadway shows, concerts, and other events.
The architecural firm for the restoration was WH Design Studio, with architect William J. Miller of Patchogue in charge of the project.
Contributed by
Chris
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Recent comments (view all 82 comments)
As a triplex
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I have attended shows at the Patchogue Theatre in the past few years and was present when then Mayor Keegan had his crew remove the interior subdividing walls and seats. I think that they restored the auditorium to as it was prior to the shoe boxing and I feel, in my opinion, that it was originally much more colorful when first opened. I am pleased with what they have done yet I wish they didn’t have to install all those lighting bridges which obstruct ones view. The main chandelier is nice but doesn’t seem to go with the adamesque interior. The NYTOS had agreed with the previous director to install a 2-10 Wurlitzer and, just as they were about to begin, a new director came onto the scene and refused to allow the installation for whatever reason. In this writer’s opinion that was a bad decision on his part. The organ would have been a wonderful addition to the theatre allowing silent film and concerts, etc. Anyway, it is wonderful to have such a theatre here in Suffolk County and the village has make a comeback around it.
Almost twenty pages of photos of the Patchogue Theatre are in the book Patchogue in the Twentieth Century by Hans Henke. The photos show the original theatre, playbills, the fire which destroyed he lobby on October 2, 1958 (a temporary entrance was set up on Oak Street), the making of the triplex, the performing arts center, etc..
Mr. Henke’s previous book, Patchogue The Early Years, has photos of the original Unique, the Unique which became the Rialto, the Star Palace and the Lyceum. None of these photos have a link.
If someone has the means to post a photo to Flickr or some other web photo album, and will provide a link to share with this page, I can send them a photo from Saturday, August 11, 1923 of this theatre.
The feature on the marquee is “Rustle of Silk”.
Contact:
JF Lundy emailed me the photo of the Patchogue Theater and I uploaded it here:
Click here to View Photo
Here’s an accompanying article too:
Click here to view excerpt
A New Stage for Old Theaters: nytimes
Here’s an image of the Patchogue when it was still a movie house in 1983.
http://americanclassicimages.com/Default.aspx?tabid=141&txtSearch=CATAdvancedSearch1%2c32%2c3%2c-1&catpageindex=22&ProductID=30379
Here’s an active link to the image moviegoer posted earlier.
And, by the way, that might be the highest canopy marquee I’ve ever seen on a local neighborhood movie theater!