Town Hall Theater
5428 Shady Avenue,
Lowville,
NY
13367
5428 Shady Avenue,
Lowville,
NY
13367
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I visited this theatre in the late 1970’s. One of the things that impressed me most was the attendance. Despite hundreds theatres closing form the 50’s through the 70’s, the Town Hall was nearly full on the night I attended. I asked a theatre worker to explain this phenomenon. She said “Lots of wealthy farmers in the area.”
A book published in 1902 describes the Town Hall and Opera House in Lowville, built in 1899 and designed by Leon H. Lempert & Son:
The facade of the building above the first floor appears to still be pretty much as Lempert designed it, but the interior was completely remodeled by Michael DeAngelis in 1949, along with the ground floor exterior. Here is a fresh link to the December 3, 1949, Boxoffice article about the remodeling, to replace the dead link in one of my earlier comments.Forgot to put a link to the Google Books Preview of Maggie Valentine’s book.
A Lowville Opera House was mentioned in the March 18, 1916, issue of The Moving Picture World. It was one of several theaters that had been leased or managed by George A. Hickey, recently named manager of the Triangle company’s Buffalo film exchange, so the house must have been showing movies at least part of the time prior to 1916
Plate 5, on page 15 of Maggie Valentine’s The Show Starts on the Sidewalk has a ca. 1900 photo of the Lowville Opera House.
An advertisement for architectural firm Leon H.Lempert & Son in the 1906-1907 edition of Julius Cahn’s Official Theatrical Guide lists the “Town Hall (Opera House), Lowville, N.Y.” as one of the firm’s projects.
An item from the Lowville Journal Republican in mid-1899 said that initial bids for construction of the Town Hall had come in over estimates, and that architect Lempert had subsequently altered the plans, scaling back some features, including reducing the size of the stage from 39x64 feet to 26x64 feet.
The theater appears to have been called both Town Hall and Lowville Opera House, or just Opera House, interchangeably for several decades, but the latter appeared in the local newspaper most frequently.
Digitized archives of the Journal and Republican and Lowville Times pinpoint the opening of the Opera House to May 6, 1926.
The Town Hall Theater has beat the odds and has made a successful transition to digital projection. We installed a brand new silver screen in 2011 followed in 2012 by installation of a Chrisitie series II projector, new surround sound and realD 3D.
Patrick: I just printed out the article that you posted on September 7. Would love to see your DeAngelis designed theatre someday. Please email me at at your convenience to set up a possible tour. Current plans later this Fall are to see the Strand in Brockport NY which is also a DeAngelis theatre.
View link
Recent article on the Town Hall Theater
It looks like a nifty little theatre, both inside and out. Too bad that the powers-that-be chose to demolish it instead of doing what they could do to save it from the wrecking ball.
Just read that you are about an hour north of Utica. Will let you know if we come your way.
pobrien: Nice to see some great interior photos of a theatre that was designed by DeAngelis who also designed by hometown theatre, the Grand in Westfield NY. Unfortunately, the powers to be demolished it in the mid 90’s. I was living in south FL at the time and wasn’t around to help save this art deco cinema treasure. I noticed your screen name being “pobrien” so I assume you are one of the family owners. Keep CT posted on any and all progress. Where is Lowville NY located as I am in Western NYS and would love to visit your area and tour the Lowville Town Hall Theater. In the Fall I hope to visit another DeAngelis designed theatre, the Strand in Brockport NY.
I would like to thank folks for their interest in our Theater. We have added pictures to our website that can be accessed by link above or www.lowvilletownhalltheater.com We are also on facebook at www.facebook.com/townhalltheater and twitter at www.twitter.com/townhalltheater
Interesting article and photo, Joe Vogel. Thanks for posting it and sharing it with everybody here.
A few pictures of the Town Hall Theatre are in this Boxoffice article from December 3, 1949. The article calls the style “modern baroque,” but it’s Art Moderne.
Hi, Lost Memory. Although I, too have been to and traveled through upstate New York, I’d never heard of this particular town or the Town Hall Theatre. A wonderful thing about this site is that one learns something else every day.
Lost: Nice to see much chatter on this theater as it had been silent…..until now!
Thanks, Lost Memory. Although I’m not familiar with Town Hall Theatre, or have any photographs of this neat-looking theatre, or the familiarity of embedding photos into forums, I look forward to seeing any photographs of Town Hall Theatre that might come up.
Hi, Patsy. Thanks! :)
MPol: Glad to read that you agree!
It’s agreed; photos of the Town Hall Theatre, both of the exterior and interior of the theatre, would be nice.
Lost: Can you provide us with any photos of this architecturally designed theater by Michael DeAngelis?