Imperial Theatre
157 Irving Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11237
157 Irving Avenue,
Brooklyn,
NY
11237
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 45 comments found
An article that I recently wrote, linked below, discusses a number of old Bushwick movie houses, including the Imperial. In addition to the text, the article contains an excellent slide show, which the staff of the wonderful BushwickBk blog assembled.
Hope you enjoy it.
View link
No, unfortunately you have to go to their CHambers St location to do this. I know someone that did…and it’s all there, but you have to do it there. It also helps if you have the section, lot, and block when you go there for whatever you want to see the 1930’s photos of, although you don’t have to, they have books there. But it would save you a lot of time. Block and lot numbers can be gotten from their website. You just type in an address, and it will give you the block and lot. It’s all organized by block numbbers.
Too bad there are no vintage photos.
Bway, does the library have the same program online?
If someone ever gets to the Municipal archieves on Chambers St, they have photos of all the properties in NY taken in the 1930’s and again in the 1980’s. They are available for purchase online, however, if you go in person, you can print photos on their printer. Not as good as a real photo, but at least it’s affordable (they charge like 10 cents or something per print page).
Thanks for the picture, which provides a recent view of this long closed theater. It would be great if a real vintage picture of the Imperial in its cinematic hayday could also be posted.
Photo of the Imperial Theatre courtesy Nick’s Classic American Theatres.
View link
Thanks for the update!
The building is officially off of the market and currently in the last stage of being sold. From what I know the building will remain as it is and be utilized as a storage warehouse. I was kind of hoping someone would restore it to its former glory but at least it isn’t being torn down or turned into condos!
Blondie10, has anyone expressed any interest in this site? Hope you have some good news to share.
Thanks so much! Yeah, it certainly looks more like a factory than a theater it once was, but it probably wasn’t all that ornate to begin with, even when it was a theater. It has the high ceilings, etc still though from what it appears, and would be fairly easy to convert back to a theater use, which probably would be good for the community. Some of the performance groups, musical groups, art groups, etc are performing out of converted storefront/loft space, so this probably would be a step up for many of them.
Here are 14 pictures of the interior…it still looks like a factory, but will be cleaned out very soon.
View link
This would be wonderful if this theater may be able to be brought back to theater use. With all going on in Bushwick culturally lately, it seems like it would be a good use….for performance space, musical groups, artsy movies, etc.
Blondie, it would be great if you could get some photos of the inside!
John, I’m actually an Agent for the Brokerage that is listing this property, if you are interested in purchasing please email me @ , and I would be glad to foward you more details about it.
Blondie10, I referred to your recent post on the BushwickBk.Com web site, which is hopefully attached. Perhaps the owner may wish to reach out to this site.
http://bushwickbk.com/forum/index.php?
board=31;action=display;threadid=19658
Blondie10, this is interesting news. Do you think that the owner would be interested in selling – or leasing – this property to a group that could run the buildig for a theatrical purpose? A number of newly arrived Bushwick residents are involved in artistic pursuits and may be very interested in this site.
If the owner is responsive to this suggestion, please have him respond on this page.
Hi all, I know the owner of this building personally and it is currently for sale. It has been vacant for about 2 years now after being used as a knitting mill. I have been inside of it many times and a lot of the original details are still intacted. I believe the windows are original. On the mezzanine level, there are still the small windows that the movies were projected from. It is a beautiful, well-built building. I will try to take some pictures of the interior and post them on this board.
The Department of Buildings gives the address range for this building as 155-157 Irving Avenue. That address is currently listed as factory/industrial.
I don’t know what the Imperial is being used for, the building still looks pretty vacant.
Glad you found it, Bway !
Here’s a photo I took a couple weeks ago from the DeKalb Ave side of the old Imperial Theatre:
Click Here for Photo
Thanks, Warren. I didn’t know that the Imperial Theatre once showed German-made films.
This was called the Imperial Theatre (not Imperial Theater). In 1938, the Imperial was a showcase for “Best German Pictures.” This one, directed by Veit Harlan, was later branded “Nazi propaganda” and withdrawn from American release: View link
I just came across a very recent picture of the Imperial. It was taken only a week or so ago. I will try to link it, though I’m not very experienced in doing this. Anyhow, this is the link.
www.flickr.com/photos/mtmont/2311192264/in/pool-bushwickbk
I wish we could come up with some historical photos of this building.