Loew's Canal Theatre

Located on the far eastern end of Canal Street in Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Loew’s Canal Theatre was opened on September 8, 1927. The theatre is entered through a narrow 22ft wide entrance on Canal Street decorated in white terra cotta which features sea monsters, griffons, eagles, garland, foliate and other flamboyant ornamentation. A narrow lobby, 60ft in length, is decorated in a Spanish Baroque style. This leads towards the large almost 2,339-seat auditorium whose exterior west wall is shared with Ludlow Street. It was equipped with a Wurltzer 3 manual 13 ranks organ.

The theatre was opened and operated by Loew’s Theatres, until the late-1950’s. Structurally, the theatre appears to be in reasonably good shape. Exterior iron staircases on the side street are still present. Additionally, while shuttered, the theatre auditorium has not yet been converted to retail space, it was used for storage for a while. Only the entance & lobby were converted into an electronics store from November 26, 1962 which operated for several decades.

In 2010, hope was raised for the possible renovation of the long shuttered Loew’s Canal Theatre when the building’s current owners supported an effort by the Committee to Revitalize and Enrich the Arts and Tomorrow’s Economy(CREATE) to conduct a feasibility study for the conversion of the Canal Theatre into a multipurpose performance arts center. The group received $150,000 from the city for a feasibility study and $140.00 for additional studies.

Also in September 2010, the facade and the lobby portion of the building was declared a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. The auditorium was reported to be in remarkably good shape, with most of the decor intact.

Recent comments (view all 150 comments)

theatrefan on October 5, 2015 at 9:23 am

Yes the place is crumbling away, here is some info from the NYC Department Of Buildings Site:

1) FIRE STARTED TO HEAT PIPES CAUSED PARTIAL COLLAPSE OF INT WA LLS, NO APPROVED PLANS ON SITE. STOP ALL WORK, ENTIRE SITE 2)TIE BACK ON METAL LATH & PLASTER WALL ROTTED CAUSING WALL TO BECOME UNSTABLE W/ THE POTENTIAL OF COLLAPSE.

Unless the owner does something soon, the inside will rot and fall away to nothing, like what happened to the Loew’s Pitkin.

Matt Lambros on March 24, 2017 at 7:44 am

The Canal is one of the 24 theaters in my new book, “After the Final Curtain: The Fall of the American Movie Theater,” which is available on Amazon or your local bookstore

Willburg145 on March 29, 2017 at 4:40 pm

I’m sure we can say goodbye to this theatre. The land is very valuable. Another damn apartment will replace it.

Willburg145 on March 29, 2017 at 4:50 pm

I found this on the Landmarks commission website.

http://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=2012032000346001

MarkA on May 4, 2017 at 6:51 pm

Matt … you book is a “must buy.” The Canal Theatre opened with a Wurlitzer organ. My theatre organ group, myself included, is restoring it. This is a link sbout the organ. Some of information, particularly about the second theatre were the organ was housed is outdated. http://theatreorgans.com/freestate/where_did_this_organ_come_from.htm.

Matt Lambros on May 5, 2017 at 6:43 am

Mark – That’s amazing that the organ console was sealed under cement for so many years. Thanks!

MarkA on May 6, 2017 at 3:07 pm

Matt, you are welcome. Work continues every week on restoring the organ. However, a larger on is being rebuilt … with four keyboards.

Comfortably Cool on December 12, 2018 at 9:29 am

The future of Loew’s Canal is briefly discussed by owner Thomas Sung in New York Magazine’s issue of December 10-23, 2018. A two-part clipping has been uploaded, starting here

HomecrestGuy on March 4, 2019 at 3:27 pm

Two new old Tax Photo pictures of the Canal, added to the Gallery.

spectrum on October 13, 2025 at 7:49 am

Just checked Google photos, aps - as of October 2025, the buiilding is still standing - no changes that I can see.