Rialto Theatre
121 Mathewson Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
121 Mathewson Street,
Providence,
RI
02903
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Showing 26 - 47 of 47 comments
Ming, as you have seen by now, my friend Douglas Brown confirmed (on the Carlton page) that William R. Walker & Sons also did the Carlton Theatre. I should have referred you to him in the first place since he has detailed historical knowledge about all of downtown Providence’s buildings. A year ago last June we walked together to all the sites of former theatres in that area and shared what we knew. I saw movies at the Carlton in the early 1950s, but never at the Rialto, which closed in the 1930s, before I was born. Be sure to post any additional findings of your own.
Hi Gerald,
I did manage to borrow that amazing book from the Providence Public Library. It didnt mention the architects, which is a pity.
But thanks anyway, for all the interesting info you’ve contributed to this website. It was such a wondrous discovery for me on Rialto.
I really enjoyed Providence history and the process of ‘diggin’ them up!
All the best to your future research,
ming
Ming, I don’t know. But Roger Brett’s book Temples of Illusion may contain that information. I don’t remember.
Hi! i’m an interior architecture student from RISD researching on the Rialto Theater.
Does anyone know why the architecture of the facade of Rialto and Carlton are so similar? Were they by the same architect, and who was he??
I know that the original structure of Rialto (when it was first the Westminster Congregational Church) was designed by Warren, Tallman & Bucklin (architects of the Arcade), and William R. Walker & Sons did the 1902 facade renovations (to become the Scenic Temple?)
Please solve the mystery for me?
thanks,
ming
Here is a photo of Mathewson Street taken between 1910 and 1914 (expand the image for clearer detail). Circled on the right is part of the entrance to the Scenic Temple, which became the Rialto in 1919 with an added façade which still remains. Circled on the left, behind the dentist and lunch signs, you can make out part of the vertical marquee of the Casino Theatre. As of today, this is the only known photo of the Casino Theatre! The Casino was converted to the Shepard’s Tea Room after the theatre closed sometime around or soon after 1919. In the distance you can see the twin towers of Bullock’s Theatre, a former church that became an early movie theatre at the corner of Pine and Richmond Street. The Casino and the Scenic/Rialto were two of the only three movie theatres on Mathewson Street. The third one was the Emery, built in 1914, which became the Carlton, ceased operations in 1953 and was demolished in early 1954.
The Rialto was closed in the period of 1935-36. Most of the building was torn down and the remaining front part was converted to shops and offices.
The conversion of the Scenic Temple to the the Rialto Theatre was announced in early 1919, although the new name was not yet given. A Providence Journal article from March 1 reported that James Bartley of Seekonk had purchased the then-dormant theatre and was to spend $50,000 to remodel the place, which had been closed and on the market for some time. The changes would include a new pitched floor, an enlarged balcony, a new lobby of 20x40 feet and a new frontage of brick with limestone trim. The interior would be finished in stucco and marble as would the new lobby. The theatre would not have a stage but would be used exclusively for movies. The reconstruction work was being done by the construction firm of Timothy Coffey of East Providence. A September, 1919 opening of the reborn theatre was promised.
Liam, no, the auditorium portion was demolished for a parking lot. Only the front part with shops was retained. If you look carefully at the top center of the façade, you can make out a trace of the lettering that said “Rialto Theatre.” It’s very faint. If you click
here and expand the image, you can make it out at the top center of the building.
Gerald,
Do you know if any of the actual theater still exists behind the storefronts that now front the Rialto building? I was really surprised to find that this building still exists downtown and that I had never noticed before just by looking at it that it was formerly a theater.
An editorial by David Brussat in the Providence Journal of March 17, 1994 suggested the site of the former Rialto Theatre as the place to put a movie theatre in the then cinema-less downtown. One suggestion was for a multiplex at the site; another was for a single-screen “blockbuster house.” At the time plans were already underway to bring movie theatres to the proposed new mall at Providence Place, and this Rialto-revived facility never materialized. Here is an artist’s conception of what the front might looked like on the Mathewson Street theatre, whose front portion is all that remains of the otherwise demolished place. When the Providence Place Cinemas 16 and the Feinstein IMAX opened at the mall about six years later, the hope for new movie theatres for downtown Providence finally materialized, but not here.
A 1928 newspaper article wrote that James C. Thornton of West Warwick had resigned as manager of the Rialto Theatre in Providence to become manager of the Palace Theatre in Arctic, where sound pictures would soon be shown. Mr. Thornton was a native of Riverpoint in West Warwick (same family that Thornton’s Theatre was named after?) and had previously run the Gem in Arctic. Mr. Thornton had been with the Fay interests in Providence and it was at the Majestic Theatre in Providence that sound pictures were shown the first time in the United States, according to the article in the Pawtuxet Valley Daily Times of October 8, 1928.
Charles Allen was a Block Islander. Besides the Scenic Temple and Union (later Fays), he also owned the Scenic Theatre in Pawtucket at 156 Main Street and the Allen Block in Providence at 911 Westminster Street, where he lived. He built the doomed Hippodrome and died in 1915.
In Temples of Illusion Roger Brett wrote of the beginnings of the Scenic Temple [later Rialto]:
“In the summer of 1906, [Charles] Allen counted the number of people going into the Nickel and checked the cost of film rentals. The margin of profit looked good and the work of converting roller rink to theater commenced immediately. On December 31, 1906, the Scenic Temple threw open its doors. Like the Nickel, it had movies and illustrated songs. Unlike the Nickel, it also had four acts of vaudeville. Hours were from 1:30 to 10:30, six days a week, with new shows every Monday and Thursday. Admission was 10¢.
“The old church [Westminster Congregational, 1829] made a theater of respectable size….It probably sat 700 on the orchestra floor and another 200 in the balcony…. Allen’s modifications were minimal. He covered up the windows but the floor remained flat…,and, while he did put in a stage, it had no curtain. A vertical sign with lightbulbs spelling out the word "Scenic” was suspended over the sidewalk in front of the minuscule entrance lobby.
“The Scenic Temple did well with movies, small time vaudeville, and illustrated songs, but its great success came between 1911 and 1913 when it played host to Homan’s Musical Stock Company.”
According to Roger Brett in Temples of Illusion, the first regular movie operation in Providence was the Nickel Theatre on Westminster Street, beginning on April 18, 1906. Before that only a few helter-skelter presentations of the Vitascope and Lumière Cinématographe had take place, including a notable presentation of The Great Train Robbery at Music Hall, another Westminster Street theatre around 1905. At the end of 1906 the Scenic Temple (later to be known as the Rialto) also began showing movies regularly. It was the second such place in the city.
The theatre bore the name Scenic Temple until 1919, when it became the Rialto until 1936.
From “The Board of Trade Journal” of April, 1915:
“Too many theatres? Nothing of the sort! The Emery is turning away people at every performance. The "Hip,” with its very large auditorium, is packed to the doors. The Bijou and Nickel can’t accomodate those seeking to see “the movies,” neither can the Gaiety, the Scenic, the Union or the Casino. Out in OLneyville Spitz & Nathanson’s new theatre has all it can attend to."
PROVIDENCE THEATRES: “TEMPLES OF ILLUSION"
A book called "Temples of Illusion,” by Roger Brett, was published in 1976. It is Mr. Brett’s detailed history of all the old downtown area theatres of Providence from 1871 to 1950. It includes numerous rare photos, a list of theatres with name changes, and a map to show exactly where they all were. The book is an invaluable resource and is owned by many libraries in the R.I. CLAN system. I found a copy for sale online and will use it as a reference for future postings.
It was in 1919 that the Scenic became the Rialto.
The Scenic had been the old Westminster Congregational Unitarian Church before its life as a theatre. It didn’t BECOME a church, as I wrote above; it HAD BEEN one. I misread my earlier notes.
The exact address for the Rialto/Scenic was 121 Mathewson Street.
The Rialto was on the west side of Mathewson Street between Washington and Westminster, exactly one block from the Emery/Carlton. It was formerly known as the Scenic…and I believe the “Scenic Temple” if I remember old newspaper ads correctly. This was not the same as the Casino as I had hypothesized above, which was in fact diagonally across the street. The façade of the Rialto is still there, and if one looks at the top, one can make out the outline caused by removed lettering. It is very faint but I believe it does say Rialto Theatre.
I found a map of downtown Providence theatres (1871-1950) and their name changes in the files of the Rhode Island Historical Society. That clears up a great deal of confusion for me. I also took this photo of what is left of the Scenic/Rialto.
The Rialto opened in 1902, I don’t know under what name. According to the Providence Journal Almanac from 1935, the seating capacity of the Rialto was 1448.
I doubt that this place became the Mathewson Street Church, since I now realize that it was built in the 1800s. There was a Casino Theatre at 126 Mathewson Street in the 19-teens. Could this have been that? I don’t have a street number yet for the Rialto.
Anyway this Rialto Theatre was one of a group opened or owned by Edward M. Fay. (The legendary Fay’s Theatre, a vaudeville heaven with film clouds on Union Street, was named after him.)
Here is an introductory note to Edward M. Fay from the the R.I. Historical Society’s Fay theatre records: “Edward M. Fay (3/14/1875-2/12/1964) spent his life involved with the entertainment industry, as violinist, conductor, vaudeville impresario, poet, and motion picture theater owner. He owned at least six different theaters between 1928 and 1971, and was called by the Providence Journal the "dean of Rhode Island entertainment” (April 22, 1947). He was the son of James T. and Mary Jane (Stuart) Fay and he married Katherine A. Lahiff in 1913."
I hope to peruse records of those theatres and add information at later dates and clear up some mysteries.