Capitol Theatre
1308 Niagara Street,
Niagara Falls,
NY
14303
1308 Niagara Street,
Niagara Falls,
NY
14303
3 people
favorited this theater
Showing 1 - 25 of 35 comments found
First off, thank you for having this wonderful website.
Tim McNab will be coming up from NJ and we will be touring the Captiol the first week in Feburary. John is Tim’s late brother. Everyone is invited to attend. Further details will be posted.
I unsuccessfully tried to save the nearby MELODY FAIR theatre (one of the last ‘in the round’ venues) from distruction, and am now turning my efforts towards the CAPITOL theatre.
It is our desire to renovate this viable structure into the Worlds 1st. Holographic Vaudeville house; where virtual and live actors will perform together on stage, without the audience having to wear special polarized glasses. YET TO SAVE THIS THEATRE WE WILL NEED COMMUNITY SUPPORT. It’s hard enough to find investors in today’s economy, but possible because Niagara Falls has been a popular tourist attraction for well over 100 years.
Much work needs to be done; new electrical service, plumbing, carpentry, painting, besides bringing everything upto to local fire codes. We wish to purchase and tear down the adjoining, delapitated building, that is collapsing in, and create a parking lot next to this venue. A marquee from the parking lot into the 3 store fronts (converted into a musesum froyer) will welcome vistors. The old tatoo palor building will be made into the theatres prop and maintenance shop; a 20' wide x 60' deep stage will be installed along with new seating, 5.1 sound, and lighting.
We would like to have a grand opening by the summer of 2012…but NEED YOUR HELP. We are looking for old photos, investors, preservationist, radio and tv personalities, and the local community to become involved. Please contact me at:
digitaltheatrics@roadrunner..com
1-716-392-7988
Thanks.
Property is listed For Sale on CraigsList today. Contact for info.
The website that was posted on the theater building is no longer operational.
Drove by on ¾/2009 – still there, vacant and with for sale signs.
Theatre is for sale.
So sorry to read this. Keep CT members posted on future developments. I had hoped to meet Mr. McNab this past summer, but never got that opportunity.
Patsy:It doesn’t look that way. Renovation has stopped since Mr. McNab’s passing.
LOUB: Has anyone taken over this theatre since the sad passing of John McNab?
View link
The above website deals with the opening of the Capitol in 1926.
Council Chairman Robert Anderson Jr. opened the business meeting in recognition of planning board member John McNab, who passed away Wednesday morning at Niagara Falls Memorial Medical Center. McNab also served on the city’s tourism advisory board and was active in other city issues.
The above article appeared in the Niagara Gazette and refers to a recent City Council meeting.
View link
I think it is worth re-posting this article with photo as a memorial to John and his theatre work. Rest in peace, John.
LOUB: I had planned to see this theatre and meet John this summer, but didn’t get there and now this news which is so very sad. He was too young to leave us!
Patsy:I’m not sure what will happen. Renovating this theater is quite an undertaking.John McNab wiil be missed!
LOUB: So very sad to read this. Will there be someone else to take over for John and “his” theatre in Niagara Falls NY?
View link
Sad to state but the above website reports that John McNab,who was in the processs of renovating the Capitol, has died.
I recently received a very nice email from Mr. John McNab, Capitol owner and he has given me permission to post his words and wonderful story.
Patsy, Thank you for the kind words of encouragement. What I have here is truly a “diamond in the rough”. This place was used for storage for the “Festival of Lights” and then as a contractor’s warehouse post 1965. I have heard so many wonderful stories….one Saturday afternoon I was in the theatre cleaning the place when an older gentleman appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in a suit & tie and walked with a cane. He said “Excuse me sir…may I see your theatre?”. I said “Of course”. He walked in far enough to see up into the balcony turned around and with his voice a little shaky he said to me “I kissed my bride, for the first time, right up there” and pointed to the right side of the balcony. Well, as you can imagine, we both had to compose ourselves..tender moment? You bet. Anyway you and your friends are welcome to see the theatre anytime. Peace, John
LOUB: Thanks for the website information as I just sent Mr. McNabb an email though I didn’t grow up in the Buffalo area. If anyone on CT did, I urge you to send this man a personal email as I know he would like to read about your memories of the Capitol Theatre which might help him in his restoration efforts.
http://www.capitoltheatreniagara.com/
Patsy: This is the web site posted on the theatre.
Patsy: I do remember the balcony as being part of the roller rink when I skated there,although that was 40 years ago. My father, who is deceased used to talk about working at the theater.
I have sent an email to the journalist/reporter, Denise Jewell who wrote the Niagara Gazette Capitol Theatre article last December as I wanted to know what the latest renovation information was on this former theatre. Perhaps she will let Mr. McNabb know that someone on CT was inquiring about his project and wishes him the best. Her email is
LOUB: After reading about the domed ceiling I really would like also like to see several interior photos of this theatre. You mentioned seeing “a sign on the exterior of the building with a website”. Is that sign still there as the website might have renovation photos, etc. on it.
“McNab, who bought a house on 13th Street behind the Capitol Theatre with his mother, has been piecing together bits of history about the venue, which first opened in 1925 by C.R. Phelps as a cinema.”
“McNab, 51, has cleared piles of construction materials left from the years the former Capitol Theatre was used as a storage building. He has pulled up a portion of the wooden floor that was installed in the 1950s when the cinema was transformed and used for several decades as the New Skateville Roller Rink.”
“Then he intends to add a 40-by 20-foot stage in the cavernous concrete theater that had nearly been forgotten. The building still has a solid, second-floor balcony and a domed ceiling in the center of the room.”
He is hoping to find a marquee he believes once adorned the outside of the building. An image of the sign is in several advertisements he has found for the theater in old issues of the Niagara Gazette. In one, the theater boasts “three big attractions,†including “A Lady’s Morals â€" the romantic, dramatic hit of the season.â€
“Dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt, McNab toured the theater on Friday to show off the site, which still has remnants of its days as a theater. An upright piano with broken keys and a label that says it was last tuned in 1906 by A.B. Hastings sits on the first floor near where McNab plans to install new restrooms. Upstairs, the metal skeleton of the original projector is in an empty room.”
LOUB: Give us your memories of when it was a skating rink since you posted that you recall skating there. I picture it as a rink with a balcony?
This is the first theatre that I’ve found on CT that was also a skating rink!