Comments about RKO Hamilton Theatre in New York, NY

Movieplace on December 20, 2006 at 10:30 am

This space is totally salvagable as an entertainment venue. It has to be remembered by anyone involved with this space that Thomas Lamb majored in acoustics (and mechanical drawing)at Cooper Union so the sound in there is probably great. It was built for live entertainment back in the pre-amplified days. Singers had to reach the last row of the balcony while competeing with an orchestra.

Again, there is very little in the way of water damage. Loew’s Kings which is over 20 years younger is in much worse shape due to water damage. Neglect does not help but water is not helpful either.

I cannot tell what, if anything, the Skouras people did to it. The property manager did not know a great deal about the theatre, including turning on the lights. There is a great deal of detail and ornamentation left. There is a row of light bulbs just above the upstage side of the proscenium arch that must have illuminated the house curtain. This must have been beautiful. There are no curtains of any kind left on stage.

I do not know if you can tell from the pictures but the stage is enormous, not Radio City big but still large and there is ample wing space. I talked my way back stage at Loew’s 83rd and though it’s stage was large, this one felt larger.

Although the space had been vandalized over the years, it is obviously still beautiful. I believe that it will be used as an entertainment venue of some kind.

Ken Roe on December 20, 2006 at 9:39 am

Movie Palace NYC; Congratulations on a great set of photographs and thanks for allowing us to view them. It looks like with a little t.l.c. and some $$$$ this could easily re-open as a cinema, theatre or performing arts center if the economic climate of the area ever requires it. Lets hope it stays ‘mothballed’ until some entrtainment use can be worked out and it doesn’t get trashed by a future tenant.

Movieplace on December 20, 2006 at 8:42 am

No, only the ramp up to the stage, the rolling metal gate in the fire curtain and the beer and cigarette ads are all that is left. I was told that the people who owned the beverage place used to let people sleep in there which explains the matresses. No one is living in there now.

Life's Too Short on December 19, 2006 at 5:45 pm

Is it still being used as a beverage storage room?

Life's Too Short on December 19, 2006 at 5:40 pm

What a fantastic photo set. Thank you for sharing.

Movieplace on December 19, 2006 at 12:51 pm

Yes. There are (or should be) 2 pictures taken in there. One is through a portal looking down towards the stage the other is a DC amp meter. Although it is the original projection booth, it is not original to the theatre.

BobFurmanek on December 19, 2006 at 11:32 am

Terrific photos, thanks so much for sharing them!

Did you get into the projection booth?

Movieplace on December 19, 2006 at 8:21 am

These are my photos of my journey into the RKO Hamilton. As I stated in my earlier post the building manager could not turn on the lights for some reason so the only lights I had was the flash from the camera. The pictures are in an order. Enjoy them and I will answer almost any question you may have. Thank you all for your pictures and stories over the years. Thank you especially to Ed Solero for his help.

Movie Place NYC

Ed Solero on November 19, 2006 at 5:51 pm

Movie Place… You can go to photobucket.com and sign up for a free account. Then you upload the photos and create links here to each photo or to your photo album (in which case folks will have to scroll through the album for each photo).

I already have a photobucket account that has a ton of space, so I’d be glad to host your photos for you and post them here since I’ve done quite a lot of that with my own photos as well as those of other CT users who have taken me up on the offer. However you wish to go is fine by me. There’s a link to my emai on my profile page (which you can access by clicking my name below). Either way you go… I look forward to seeing those photos posted here!

Movieplace on November 19, 2006 at 5:13 pm

I was in the RKO Hamilton last Thursday. I took a great deal of pictures. There was very little light in there as the property mamager had trouble with the electics. I am amazed at how well the flash works on my wife’s digital camera. I will post these pictures as soon as I figure it out. Or if someone wants to tell me that’s fine too.

The theater is very intact. It has suffered from some vandalism but is in excellent shape for a long neglected 1912 theatre. Don’t get me wrong, the place is filthy. After I left I felt as if I had just smoked 2 packs of cigarettes. What I saw however, was beautiful and very salvageable, even with a concrete ramp running up to the stage. There is not a lot of water damage surprisingly (a new roof in 1998). There is a great deal of detail left. There are 3 floors of dressing rooms were one can see the scars of the makeup tables that used to be there. The stage is enormous. The old dimmer board is still there. The fly loft still has a pin rail. There are some strange contrasts such as an art deco light fixture in an Adamsesque ladies smoking room.

All the stain glass exit signs are gone, just the niches were the bulbs that lit these signs are there. Any thing brass or copper is gone, no wall mounted staircase bannisters are there. There is a hole in a wall on the house left side that leads up to were I am guessing the organ pipes were. This hole is just upstage of the boxes (that are suprisingly intact). According to the property manager there are no remains of any of the organ installations.

The balcony is the only part of the space that has seats. In fact it has all of them. The seats at the front sides of the balcony are angled in such a way that watching a movie from these seats, or the boxes for that matter must have been horrible in terms of sight lines. For live theatre this would not have been such an issue. As I have read in the Marquee and at the begining of this listing it is pointed out that this theatre was built for Vaudeville, not movies. The projection booth was clearly added later.

The orchestra floor is still raked. The orchestra pit is covered, but with what I could not tell. I did not want to stand on what ever was covering the pit however.

Please let me know what I should do or can do with these pictures. I truly want to share them with all of you CT members who have shared so much over the years.

Movie Place NYC

Ret. AKC (NAC) CCC Bob Jensen, Manteno, Illinois on October 31, 2006 at 5:09 am

I see in the organs listed above that a Moller, Opus 2238, 3 manual/15 rank was installed in 1917 and a Moller, Opus 2952, 3 manual/17 rank was installed in 1921.
I have found tHat a WurliTzer Theatre Pipe Organ, Opus 20, 2 manual/8 rank was shipped to the first Criterion Theatre, New York, New York on May 10, 1913. Additions and/or alterations were made on February 2, 1914. It was reposessed by the WurliTizer Company (usually for financial reasons) and was installed in the Hamilton Theatre, New York, New York, October 7, 1916, as Opus 103, as a 2 manual/6 rank (what happened to the other 2 ranks?). From what I can find out it was moved to Detroit, October 29, 1935 and rebuilt as a style RB 13. As far as I know it still exisits is Grand Rapids and is playable. IS THIS THE HAMILTON THEATRE IT WAS INSTALLED IN?

RobertR on October 4, 2006 at 2:50 am

This 1954 Technicolor version of “Hansel & Gretel” went to the RKO’s for Christmas of 1954. It was still being re-issued as a childrens matinee in the early 70’s.
View link

Life's Too Short on September 16, 2006 at 3:46 am

I don’t think so. But it was a long time ago. Maybe 1985. If you contact the THSA archives I would bet they can help you to locate the issue.

Ed Solero on September 15, 2006 at 3:35 pm

Life… would you happen to recall if the Ridgewood Theater in Queens was listed in that feature on Lamb? Over on that page, we’ve been trying to verify if that theater is indeed a Lamb creation. Thanks.

Life's Too Short on September 15, 2006 at 3:15 pm

The Hamilton does not seem to have changed much since I last saw it in the 80’s. Years ago there was a Marquee Magazine feature called something like, “Thomas Lamb neighborhood theatres of New York.” It contained photos of the Hamilton and many others. What a cool thought it is that New York was once filled with packed movie theatres. I believe that technology has made us more isolated as a culture, and that is a shame.

Ed Solero on September 15, 2006 at 3:08 pm

Referring back to Movie Palace NYC’s posting of August 4th, 2005, I found a 1999 article in the Times' online archive regarding the Post Office’s plan to move from it’s cramped quarters half a block down 146th Street into a new complex on the site of the RKO Hamilton. Here’s a passage from the article, qouting architectural historian and preservationist Michael Henry Adams, who lived in Harlem at the time:

“What’s left is the theater, which is the most important aspect of this interior… It’s a typical Thomas Lamb theater with a big saucer dome and decorative plaster work, and little loges, or balconies, flanking the proscenium arch. The loges have these cherubs all over them and there are masks of comedy and tragedy. It is one of those Harlem time capsules.”

As evidenced by Lost Memory’s post of October 4th, 2004, preservationists were able to hold off the Post Office’s plans and ultimiately won the fight to have the building declared a landmark. While members of Community Board 9 favored the P.O. plan, one member, Carolyn Kent, had lobbied the LPC to designate the theater and favored refurbishing the place into a “contemporary playhouse.” So far, I have heard nothing about any efforts to renovate or restore architectural elements now that the place has been designated. I wonder if only the building’s exterior was granted protected status.

I believe this link to the full article will work only if you are a subscriber to the Times and have registered online for the “Times Select” benefit (which is free as long as you are a subscriber to home delivery).

Sarge on July 11, 2006 at 4:24 am

Craig
Shalom
Did a DVD movie and would like to know where one goes to
preview in a theater….
Any help finding out about DVD projections would be
greatly appreciated
Joe

acmorrison on July 6, 2006 at 6:13 am

The building is in generally good condition. The front building, originally the lobby, flanking retail spaces, and an upstairs ballroom remains used as a store. The auditorium, which is no longer accessible from the front building (you must go in a side door) is dusty but remarkably intact. Seating remains in the balcony but not downstairs, as it was used for storage. Some stage riggin remains.

Bway on June 19, 2006 at 4:55 am

What is the current status of this building?

William on June 13, 2006 at 8:35 am

During the planning stages for this theatre it was to have been called the Lafayette.

Joanna on May 17, 2006 at 5:10 pm

Alas, Warren, not a digital camera either. Tell you what, tho, if you want to e me at , I’d be willing to get a good laser copy made of a few of them and send them to you by mail. You can then crop them as you will and post them here. Just make the subject line Hamilton Theater. I’ll check that email account in a few days.Otherwise, be prepared for a healthy wait till I get a friend to lend me a camera or get a scanner.

Joanna on May 16, 2006 at 6:42 pm

I have photos of the theater from c 1915 to c 1925. Only because my grandfather owned a store across Broadway (3557) and many family pix were taken in front of his store with the Hamilton in the background. It was a magnificent building and what’s left today is a desecration. Since I don’t own a scanner yet I can only try to describe it. There was a a long canopy that went from the main door to the curb that appears to made of metal or iron with decorative scalloped glass panes coming down on the sides of it. The roof had a graceful overhang that appeared to be held up by stone brackets with carvings; there were colums between the windows with decorative finials. Along the bottom of the second floor windows (which appear to be one with the third floor windows) is a stone railing, as though there might have been narrow exterior balconies. Also the facade seems to be done in smaller panels of stone, fitted like large tiles to curve around the ground floor windows. In the later photos the ground floor windows have cloth awnings and seem to be individual small shops; you can see manequins with womens' clothes in one of them. I’ve wondered for a long time what this grand building was (I thought it was a hotel, sort of like a uptown version of The Plaza) and just learned today what it actually was (which is why I’m here.) I also took a photo of it in the late 1990s in its guise as Hamilton Palace (not Place, as someone said.) All the angles and grace have been stripped from it. There were colored streamers hanging down from a now flat roof (no overhang); and banners across the front and signs over every window with the name of the store. The stonework and sculptures are gone too. Ugly. A real crime. If I do get a scanner (don’t hold your breath; I’m slow about this stuff) I’ll come back here and post.

joemasher on May 9, 2006 at 1:10 am

I was in this complex last week. The lobby building pictured has been converted to retail. It was connected to the auditorium building by a brick ‘tunnel’, which has been demolished separating the former lobby from the auditorium. The house is still almost completely intact. The balcony is 100%, still with its seats and carpeting. Rest rooms are on the mezzanine. The orchestra level’s seats were removed for retail space some time ago. At one time since its closing as a theater in 1958, the space served as a beverage retailer’s warehouse with sales happening on the former stage. The asbestos fire curtain is hanging and the lower half has been painted white on both sides. Plaster is damaged throughout, with fluorescent light fixtures installed across the front of the balcony. Some of the murals are still there, albeit they’re tattered and hanging down in shreds. Keep an eye on this space…

Ken Roe on May 9, 2006 at 12:58 am

I should have been more specific and said that the front of house (foyers and lobby spaces) have been gutted for the current use of Hamilton Place discount store. As Joey states, the auditorium block is huge and could well be still in a state of limbo as seen in Warren’s photo posted July 28th 2005.

joeystocks on May 9, 2006 at 12:46 am

I have been inside the area where Ken’s photos were taken and, yes, it has been mostly gutted to accomodate the current discount store which currently occupies the space. The photos Warren posted are of the still-exsisting auditorium which sits directly behind the building Ken photographed. I have looked at the building from outside and in and it appears to be two separate structures. Since I never saw it when it operated as a theater, I find the architecture puzzling.

RKO Hamilton Theatre

3560 Broadway, New York, NY 10031

3560 Broadway,
New York, NY 10031