I also believe “Steamboat Willie” ( the 1 st Mickey Mouse) premiered here. The interior seats were removed twice for 2 different broadway shows. It is a miracle it still looks as good as it does
Theater was designed by same architect as the Roxy. Since its small rotunda somewhat resembles (greatly reduced scale) the rotunda of the Roxy, theater enthusiasts sometimes refer to it as the “Little Roxy” even though the inside in no way resembles the original Roxy
Last owner was a relative of the owner of the Wetson hamburger chain. He was almost singlehandedly trying to restore it with only one helper. A visit to the upstairs proved he was wasting his time as vandals had removed all the plumbing by that time & the inside of the theater was in shambles. He quickly found this out and gave up on this vanity project
Architect was C Howard Crane who also designed identical Fox theaters in St Louis and Detroit. I have a book about it and when I get it with more specifics I will e mail again. I know last owner of the theater was Barricini Candy and it sustained a fire loss before it was demolished
Architects were Herts and Tallants who also designed the Lyceum which is I believe older than the New Amsterdam and is a few blocks up in Times Square Area. I believe the New Amsterdam opened in 1903
A correction is in order. This was not a Wonder Theater. The 5 Wonder Theaters were Paradise(Bronx), 175 th St (NYC), Valencia (Queens), Kings (Brooklyn) and the Jersey In Jersey City
All 5 building are still standing The Jersey is being renovated, the 175 th St is a church for Reverend Ike, The Valencia is a Church, The Paradise is or is not being renovated or is just sitting there ( it keeps changing) and the Kings is regretfully sitting there and rotting away. The 72nd Street was a gorgeous theater which had great backstage facilities which were never used. Between the planning of the theater and it’s opening , Vaudeville died and it never had live shows
The theater was demolished in 1974. I was involved in the effort to have the theater designated as a landmark. Landmark Preservation Commission had already voted to make it a landmark.
Unfortunately, like everything in New York, politics entered into it. the decision had already been made before a Board of Estimate meeting by the Queens Borough President ( very anti preservationist) that he would vote against making it a landmark. All the other board members voted lockstep behind him (I scratch your back and you scratch mine etc). Although I helped to obtain over 8000 signatures on petitions to save it, few people showed up at the Board meeting. I feel to this day if more support was shown at the board meeting, the results might have been different. Astoria went downhill after that and now their last movie theater Astoria) just closed. Steinway street once had 4 theaters. Now they have none. an interesting footnote is that the public official (Queens Borough president) who basically killed the landmark designation committed suicide a few years later due to a growing scandal which he though would engulf him
All I know is the architect was Thomas Lamb
I also believe “Steamboat Willie” ( the 1 st Mickey Mouse) premiered here. The interior seats were removed twice for 2 different broadway shows. It is a miracle it still looks as good as it does
Architect was Hoffman & Henon who did many theaters on the east coast for the Stanley Warner Chain
Believe it started out as Loew’s 125 th Street and again architect was Thomas lamb
The architect was Thomas Lamb
Theater was designed by same architect as the Roxy. Since its small rotunda somewhat resembles (greatly reduced scale) the rotunda of the Roxy, theater enthusiasts sometimes refer to it as the “Little Roxy” even though the inside in no way resembles the original Roxy
Last owner was a relative of the owner of the Wetson hamburger chain. He was almost singlehandedly trying to restore it with only one helper. A visit to the upstairs proved he was wasting his time as vandals had removed all the plumbing by that time & the inside of the theater was in shambles. He quickly found this out and gave up on this vanity project
Architect was C Howard Crane who also designed identical Fox theaters in St Louis and Detroit. I have a book about it and when I get it with more specifics I will e mail again. I know last owner of the theater was Barricini Candy and it sustained a fire loss before it was demolished
Architects were Herts and Tallants who also designed the Lyceum which is I believe older than the New Amsterdam and is a few blocks up in Times Square Area. I believe the New Amsterdam opened in 1903
Believe the theater was Rapp & Rapp’s only atmospheric theater. Do not know the date but it was demolished
A correction is in order. This was not a Wonder Theater. The 5 Wonder Theaters were Paradise(Bronx), 175 th St (NYC), Valencia (Queens), Kings (Brooklyn) and the Jersey In Jersey City
All 5 building are still standing The Jersey is being renovated, the 175 th St is a church for Reverend Ike, The Valencia is a Church, The Paradise is or is not being renovated or is just sitting there ( it keeps changing) and the Kings is regretfully sitting there and rotting away. The 72nd Street was a gorgeous theater which had great backstage facilities which were never used. Between the planning of the theater and it’s opening , Vaudeville died and it never had live shows
The theater was demolished in 1974. I was involved in the effort to have the theater designated as a landmark. Landmark Preservation Commission had already voted to make it a landmark.
Unfortunately, like everything in New York, politics entered into it. the decision had already been made before a Board of Estimate meeting by the Queens Borough President ( very anti preservationist) that he would vote against making it a landmark. All the other board members voted lockstep behind him (I scratch your back and you scratch mine etc). Although I helped to obtain over 8000 signatures on petitions to save it, few people showed up at the Board meeting. I feel to this day if more support was shown at the board meeting, the results might have been different. Astoria went downhill after that and now their last movie theater Astoria) just closed. Steinway street once had 4 theaters. Now they have none. an interesting footnote is that the public official (Queens Borough president) who basically killed the landmark designation committed suicide a few years later due to a growing scandal which he though would engulf him