Its sad when these grand movie palaces close..The Plaza really didn’t have much of a chance, only 33 years not long for the shining castle on the hill “that’s what we called it when we were kids”…no save the theater foundations back then {Or it didn’t seem so… The Plaza had a lot of Classical artist performing there way back when, Sergio Rachmaninoff, New York Philharmonic etc ,this city was never an artistic town …that may have been its demise “Oh well” One more word John Ebersons grand daughter came to our city about 12 years ago looking for photos etc..we don’t have any, really we dont they told her..Maybe I’ll try to contact Philip Rapps living relatives, who knows we may strike gold..Take care.
Details are very hard to find for the Plaza..demolished 40 yeas ago I guess things get lost..it would be nice to have lobby photos etc..I even contacted the Schenectady historical society, they don’t have anything? its almost like it never existed?….but I did hear tonight that it had a little pond in the lobby with fish…
I mentioned that I know a musician 85 years old who worked at the Plaza and Proctors, he told me most of the big shows were held at the Plaza because of its stage size and acoustics
The Plaza may have been owned by the Fabian family “Fabian Securities” but they were not the builders, Shapiro & Sons out of NYC did the actual hands on work, they started and completed all construction aspects of the Schenectady RKO. Recently researching through the Shapiro building record manuals we now know the Plaza “for sure” is listed as having 2500 seats. the State Theater in Schenectady “now demolished” had a bit over 1800 seats, the Schenectady Plaza never did and never had an 1800 seating capacity. Both the Plaza and Palace theaters were built at the same time, the Plaza was scheduled to be completed in 1 year, the Palace in Albany “John Eberson” architect for both theaters was to be completed in 16 months many delays in the Plazas construction went well over 1 year and the cost exceeded way over a million dollars.
Plaza Theater Schenectady N.Y Architect John Eberson.
The great 20th century composer Sergio Rachmaninoff performed at The RKO Plaza 1n 1940.
Oh thanks for the link:)
Its sad when these grand movie palaces close..The Plaza really didn’t have much of a chance, only 33 years not long for the shining castle on the hill “that’s what we called it when we were kids”…no save the theater foundations back then {Or it didn’t seem so… The Plaza had a lot of Classical artist performing there way back when, Sergio Rachmaninoff, New York Philharmonic etc ,this city was never an artistic town …that may have been its demise “Oh well” One more word John Ebersons grand daughter came to our city about 12 years ago looking for photos etc..we don’t have any, really we dont they told her..Maybe I’ll try to contact Philip Rapps living relatives, who knows we may strike gold..Take care.
Details are very hard to find for the Plaza..demolished 40 yeas ago I guess things get lost..it would be nice to have lobby photos etc..I even contacted the Schenectady historical society, they don’t have anything? its almost like it never existed?….but I did hear tonight that it had a little pond in the lobby with fish…
I mentioned that I know a musician 85 years old who worked at the Plaza and Proctors, he told me most of the big shows were held at the Plaza because of its stage size and acoustics
The Plaza may have been owned by the Fabian family “Fabian Securities” but they were not the builders, Shapiro & Sons out of NYC did the actual hands on work, they started and completed all construction aspects of the Schenectady RKO. Recently researching through the Shapiro building record manuals we now know the Plaza “for sure” is listed as having 2500 seats. the State Theater in Schenectady “now demolished” had a bit over 1800 seats, the Schenectady Plaza never did and never had an 1800 seating capacity. Both the Plaza and Palace theaters were built at the same time, the Plaza was scheduled to be completed in 1 year, the Palace in Albany “John Eberson” architect for both theaters was to be completed in 16 months many delays in the Plazas construction went well over 1 year and the cost exceeded way over a million dollars.