Garde Arts Center
325 State Street,
New London,
CT
06320
325 State Street,
New London,
CT
06320
13 people
favorited this theater
The Garde Arts Center is one of the few remaining movie palaces in Connecticut.
Opened on September 22, 1926 as the 1,603-seat Garde Theatre, when the building was nearing completion, architect Benjamin Schlanger was consulted on the ‘stencil on plaster’ decorations in the auditorium. This former movie and vaudeville palace has been carefully and completely restored.
Now a performing arts center that still occasionally shows classic films, the Garde Arts Center is one of the most lavishly decorated theaters in the country.
Contributed by
Ross Melnick
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Recent comments (view all 17 comments)
I understand that this theater is home to the largest remaining movie theater screen in Connecticut. Prior to the renovation, I saw restored prints of Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia, and Bridge on the River Kwai there. These widescreen epics deserve to be seen on the big screen… a REALLY big screen. Unfortunately, the Garde doesn’t run a classic film schedule. Bummer!
The marquee reminds me of the one that was on the late, great Coliseum Theatre in Seattle.
I’ve been past this place a few times, next time, I’m going in to see a show.
Listed in the New Haven Advocate’s Annual Manual. “A bonafide 1930s movie palace restored in the 1990s to its former magnificence and now serving as a multi-media performing arts center, with a Broadway subscription series…not to mention skads of children’s shows and a summertime film series. A major venue in an out-of-the-way seaside city, you never know if a show will be sold out or desolate; just go with the flow.
Here is the Garde Arts Center at night.
I second that, SNWEB.ORG.
This was the Garde Theater in 1986.
This New York Times article mentions the Garde (toward the bottom) – it has been struggling as a performing arts center in the face of competition from newer venues though the news has improved recently: View link
Nice looking theatre I like the two verticals very old scholl looking.
Wurlitzer installed their pipe organ opus 1302 here in 1926, a very modest Style E, 2 manuals 7 ranks in one chamber. The organ was later moved to the Crystal Palace in West Goshen CT.