Eagle Theater
431 Central Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
431 Central Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11221
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The Central Theater was a small neighborhood movie house in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick. It opened on September 23, 1916, and was designed by Thomas Lamb. Located at 431 Central Avenue, between Woodbine and Madison Streets, about 5/8 of the way southeast from Woodbine to Madison. It operated until 1926. In 1927 it was renamed Luxor Theater and continued until 1936.
In 1936 it was re-named Eagle Theater and closed in the early-1950’s. It was apparently one of many small neighborhood movie houses that was done in by television in that time frame. The building became home to a church. In 2008, the building was gutted, removing the roof and most of the facade. The side-walls remain.
Contributed by
Peter Koch
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Recent comments (view all 47 comments)
Almost a year later….and still no change…here’s a photo I took yesterday of the Eagle/Luxor Theater
Click Here for Photo
Ooops, here is the proper link, the one above is one from a year ago. This was taken today:
Click here for photo
Thanks for making the trip and taking the updated picture. I had intended to visit the site myself but just could not make it.
well, at least the shell has not visibly disintegrated during the interim.
Went by this site today, and it is just as Bway described it. Also, none of the Buildings Dept. permite are current; they all elapsed last November. Thus, the chances of this theater to rise from ite ashes are pretty slim.
I was able to make it over here yesterday, and the situation is as Bway described. One thing that I did observe was the fact that the building permits pasted on the fence expired last November. This is obviously not a good sign for the future prospects of what remains of the Eagle.
Had a free day, took a pass by and found the shell of the old Eagle much as it was before. Even the old and even more expired building permits were still in place. The metal beams have, however, become the nesting ground for a number of pigeons.
A brief description of the old Eagle plus a few current pictures of the site appear in an article that I recently wrote for the terrific BushwickBk blog. The pictures can be viewed in a slideshow that also contains pictures of a number of other old Bushwick movie houses. Hope you enjoy it.
View link
The recently released Brooklyn Theatre Index confirms the fact that Thomas Lamb was the architect. This project, which was little more than a rather plain “nabe” theater, must have been one of Lamb’s very early creations. Also, given the similarity in design that, as noted in previous comments, the Eagle shares with other local theaters, one would wonder if Lamb was, in some way, involved with them as well. (I believe Lamb did live in the general area.) Anyhow, a little food for thought.
The Index does, however, part company from Peter’s introduction by providing a 1940 closing date for the place, while Peter places it in the early 1950’s. In addition, the only testimony of actual attendance noted in the comments provides a 1938 date. Thus, the actual closing date needs to be clarified.
Finally, the theater’s initial name – the Central Theatre – should be added as a previous name at the top of the page.
Someone else I know claims to have also used the theater in the 40’s, so it’s not really clear when it closed.
Notice in the street view of the theater, the words in the cement/tiles on the sidewalk under where the marquee used to be still say “Eagle” right up until the point when the building was partially demolished. The side walls of the theater still remain to this day…someone should do a walk by and see if you can still see “Eagle” on the ground in front of the barricade they put around the building when they tore the front part of the building down….