Seville Theatre
256 Meridian Street,
East Boston,
MA
02128
256 Meridian Street,
East Boston,
MA
02128
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Additional Info
Architects: W. Chester Browne, J. Frederick Krokyn
Firms: Krokyn, Browne & Rosenstein
Styles: Atmospheric, Spanish Colonial
Nearby Theaters
The Seville Theatre opened in 1930. This theatre in East Boston was still listed in newspaper advertisements in the mid-1960’s. It was demolished in October 2014.
Contributed by
Gerald A. DeLuca
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Recent comments (view all 21 comments)
NicholasV: It says right in the article you refer to that the comdition is quite poor and there is very little of the original decor remaining. I’m sure the bad economy put a temporary stop to this development.
I have heard nothing more about the status of the Seville since the news, above, from March 2008. If you look at the two photos linked to above on 3-9-08 which were taken 6 ½ years ago, the interior was not as bad as it could have been, and there was still some decor remaining.
Hopefully this treasure wont be lost. Perhaps the Lombardo family can have a final thank you to East Boston by either restoring this property or sell it to a delveloper that would. The Hippodrome in Spriongfiled comes to mind, it’s been restored to it’s former glory and has been retrofited with modern tecnology.
The Lombardo family got it’s uses out of the Seville, being a storage building for both Lombardo’s function hall and
Liberty Market(s), they neglected the Seville since 1976 with the final nail in the coffen turning the Seville into condo’s.
Thats too bad.
If the condo project hasn’t started by now I seriously doubt anyone will be getting the ball rolling in this real estate market.
My guess is the property will continue as is for some time to come.
Most recent proposal for the property was to renovate the entire building into the new East Boston Branch of the Boston Public Library…
That idea isn’t too well liked according to the reports due to the expense, however the fact that it is being eyed for a renovation period is a good sign.
Check out these amazing photos of when the theater first opened! ;–)
http://archive.org/stream/motionnew41moti#page/n425/mode/2up http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n464/mode/1up http://archive.org/stream/motionpic39moti#page/n465/mode/1up
The May 3, 1930, issue of Motion Picture News said that the Seville Theatre was designed by the Boston architectural firm Krokyn, Browne & Rosenstein.
Tello’s clothing store next door has closed (and they have also closed their Downtown Crossing store). So if they were using this theatre as a warehouse, they aren’t anymore. Does anyone know if it is being otherwise used now, and what its future may be?
Sadly, I just had my own Cinema Paradiso moment. I live ½ block from the long closed Seville Theater in East Boston — an atmospheric movie theater I frequented as a boy and young man. As I write this, it is being demolished to make way for luxury condos. I was curious to see whether there was anything left of the interior. When the bulldozer broke through the outer wall today I was first able to see the midnight blue ceiling that used to have twinkling stars studded throughout. The columns of a loge were clearly visible too as was the ramp type of balcony. In my youth I remember how all along the outside walls were replicas of mansions with enormous windows lit up from behind and classical statuary near the proscenium. It was sumptuous for a working class neighborhood. My mother always commented on how the lady’s room was very elegant and comfortable. Why is progress sometimes such an ugly word?