Alhambra Theater
108 Bleecker Street,
Utica,
NY
13501
108 Bleecker Street,
Utica,
NY
13501
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The Alhambra Theater was opened on December 21, 1907. It was listed in the American Motion Picture Directory 1914-1915 edition having been remodeled in 1915. The Alhambra Theater is also listed in 1925 as a first run house. The Alhambra Theater is not listed in the 1930 Film Daily Yearbook so it most likely closed in the late-1920’s.
Contributed by
Ken Roe, Lost Memory
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The “Theatres to be Built” column in the April 1, 1915, issue of The New York Clipper listed a project at Utica for the Alhambra Amusement Company, c/o A. Lux, Alhambra Theatre, Utica. This sounds like it was to be a new building for an existing theater. The architects for the project were E. A. Howard & Son, of Syracuse.
A 1911 newspaper report confirms that the Alhambra Theatre built in 1915 was either a replacement for or an enlargement of an existing theater. The 1911 item said that the Alhambra Theatre on the south side of Bleeker Street near Genesee Street was being enlarged to accommodate 900 patrons.
In the 1940s, the Lux Building housed the Utica branch of W. T. Grant’s. The first two photos in the “Shops and Stores” section of the photo gallery at Utica Remember When show Grants, probably around 1940.
Sketchup has a 3-D model of the Lux Building’s exterior here. I’m not sure the auditorium was demolished. More likely the space was gutted and had a couple of floors built into it.
The Alhambra Theatre originally opened on December 21, 1907, according to that day’s issue of the Utica Herald Dispatch. The building, owned by the Lux Brothers, had previously been occupied by Lux & Sons Washington Market. I still haven’t been able to discover if whether the Alhambra Theatre of 1915 was entirely new construction or a rebuilding of this earlier structure.
This item about the Alhambra Theatre is from the April 21, 1915 issue of Engineering and Contracting: “Utica, N. Y. H. & A. Lux, of the Alhambra Amusement Co., Alhambra Theater, city, will let contracts about May 1 for erection of a theater, 68x120-ft., and to cost about $75,000. E. A. Howard & Son, 503 The Bastable, Syracuse, N. Y., are the architects. Type of construction follows: Foundations, concrete; wall, tile, steel frame; floor, reinforced concrete; partitions, tile; exterior finish, tile, front enamel brick.”
Although that sounds like it would be a major rebuilding, this item from Moving picture World of July 31, 1915 calls the project a remodeling: “The Alhambra moving picture theater of Utica, N. Y., is being remodeled and will reopen in a few weeks. Patrons will be given much higher grade of pictures than before. The interior of the playhouse will be one of the most attractive and comfortable in the city.”
So we can finally confirm that the Alhambra Theatre was the house that, according to that day’s issue of The Utica Herald Dispatch, first opened on December 21, 1907.