City Hall Theatre
31-32 Park Row,
New York,
NY
10038
31-32 Park Row,
New York,
NY
10038
1 person
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A City Hall Theatre is listed in the 1914-1915 edition of American Motion Picture Directory with an address of 93 Park Row (could have been a mis-print). This theatre was located at 31-32 Park Row in Manhattan and exhibited motion pictures from 1916, closing around 1946.
Contributed by
Damien Farley
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Recent comments (view all 22 comments)
I believe that the marquee of the City Hall Theatre can be seen in this undated view of Park Row, but I’m having trouble reconciling it with a color photo that I took in 2006. In the B&W photo, the theatre entrance appears to be at the right side of the small white building with billboards atop it. The area has drastically changed over the decades. The fountain in City Hall Park was moved a bit north when the park was re-designed in 1999:
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/parkrow99.jpg
www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/cityhall1.jpg
Lost Memory….There are some Streets in New York that contain both odd and even # adresses on the same side of the street. I believe this happens when there is no “other side” of the street. For example, across from Park Row is City Hall Park. Since there are no buildings there to have the even #’s, both odd and even were used for the East Side buildings.
Louis….Since that comment in 2006, I’ve discovered that some streets in NYC don’t adhere to standard odd and even addressing (odd on one side and even on the other side of the street). Normally, addresses are assigned for both sides of a street even if the other side of the street has no current buildings located there. The addresses would be for future use. The addresses must have been assigned with the assumption that nothing would ever be built on the other side of the street in this area.
Here are new links to photos described above on 7/5/06. Hard to believe that nearly two years have passed since I snapped them. The second photo would be impossible to take today due a construction project at the spot where I stood:
View link
View link
After I posted above, I realized that 5th Avenue and Central Park West both have odd and even #’s on the same side of the street as they knew that no structures would ever be built on the Park sides.
There is another oddity in addresses downtown in the Financial District. The numbers for the addresses on Broad Street run North to South instead of the standard South to North. Don’t know why that is. :–)
I have come upon several photos of the City Hall Theater marquee which could not be used because of copyright issues, This is the best one i have seen and it is available thanks to Frank Pfuhler. Frank has kindly made vailable about 3000 photos from his collection of traction subjects on Webshots.
View link shows a TARS conduit streetcar on Park Row at City Hall from sometime between 1939 and 1947 as it waits to run back uptown. The City Hall Theater is in the background.
Perhaps someone can make out the movies ‘now showing" on the marquee.
Even with a magnifier, I can’t read the message on the marquee. One can’t really guess a date by the cars, since new ones weren’t manufactured during WWII. During some of those years, the City Hall operated as a newsreel house. The photo confirms that the entrance and auditorium were in the building shown in this 2007 view with a yellow Nikon Digital sign across the top:
View link
This was still listed as open in the Film Daily Yearbook for 1946. It is listed as closed in the 1947 edition.
The marquee says “Bing Crosby – Martha Raye” from the film “Double or Nothing.” Released September 17, 1937.
The July 8, 1915, issue of The New York Times said that the Reliable Investment Company, headed by Joseph Weinstock, had leased the property at 31 Park Row from the Jay Gould estate, and on expiration of the lease of the current tenants (on May 1, 1916) intended to replace the existing building with a moving picture theater.
I’m not sure if the original building, which dated from 1881 or 1882, was ultimately demolished, or was merely remodeled. However, plans for altering the City Hall Theatre building were filed in 1922, according to the February 4 issue of Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide. Architect Louis A. Sheinart was responsible for the plans, which included removing an existing wall, installing a new wall, beams, seats, stairs, and a marquee. A bowling alley was also mentioned as part of the project.