Sampson Theatre
130 E. Elm Street,
Penn Yan,
NY
14527
130 E. Elm Street,
Penn Yan,
NY
14527
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Currently under renovation by Penn Yan Theatre Company.
Full history with vintage photos on the below website. Click Read More under Sampson’s Illustrious History. Also a 2017 walking tour video below.
https://www.pytco.org/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyRaoXmiOUw&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3W9YNWt3adFx4MAXeWVbgoapuVTfIhTlEVVDCa7FDs4TZQ9QOjjNZ-8W4
There are some photos of the Sampson Theatre on this web page, along with a speculative computer rendering of what the interior might have looked like (no period photos or drawings of the interior are known to survive.) The Sampson Theatre opened on October 12, 1910, and was designed by its owner, Dr. Frank Sampson, with local architect Frank Harrison serving as consultant. The original seating capacity was over 900.
The page has links to three news items, two from 1910 and one from 1984, and to a “Photo tour” section which has photos from 2007, when some rehabilitation work was going on. There is also a rough floor plan showing the original seating configuration.
The Sampson Theatre was the successor to the Sheppard Opera House, aka Yates Lyceum, located nearby, which opened in 1890 and was destroyed by a fire in 1907.
This is at 130 E. Elm.
Selected as one of the “Five to Revive” by the Landmark Society of Western New York.
Article at: http://landmarksociety.org/programs/five-to-revive/five-to-revive-sampson-theatre/
Postcard image of the Sampson in Pen Yan.