theaters

Sterling Opera House // 1889

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The Sterling Opera House in Derby, Connecticut, is a landmark performing arts venue and civic center in the state and significant as a rare and well-preserved building constructed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style. Built in 1889, the building is named for Charles A. Sterling, founder the former Derby-based Sterling Piano Company, who paid for much of the costs of construction and design for the building. For his namesake building, Charles Sterling hired architect H. Edwards Ficken, who also  assisted with the designs for the famous Carnegie Hall in Manhattan, New York, to furnish plans for the unique building. The Opera House was built to serve both political and entertainment needs for the community, with the lower two levels and the basement serving as City Hall offices and the police station from when it opened up until 1965. The auditorium was used for hundreds of shows and live musical performances in its day, with many world-famous performers such as Harry Houdini and Red Skelton taking the stage at the Sterling. Shows were held up until 1945 when the curtain closed for the last time. In the past decades the building has been largely vacant and kept alive by grants and a dream by the city to preserve this significant landmark, possibly for reincorporation as the City Hall. 

Old St. Stephen’s Church – Barker Playhouse // 1840

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The old St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Providence’s Fox Point neighborhood is an architecturally distinctive Greek Revival style church building located on charming Benefit Street. The church had its beginnings in 1839, when the newly established congregation called on 29-year-old Francis Vinton to serve as their first pastor. The congregation funded this small church which broke ground in 1840, and before it was completed, Rev. Vinton resigned as Rector. The building, built of stone and covered in stucco, once had a spire and belfry above the main entrance. The congregation grew over the next decade and it was soon realized that a larger and more central church should be built for members, many of whom were wealthy residents with mansions surrounding Brown College. In 1860, the parish purchased a lot on George Street, and hired architect, Richard Upjohn to design the new church in the Gothic style. For reasons of location, and possibly social class, twenty-two men and women remained here at the less fashionable church and formed a new parish, the Church of the Saviour. The smaller, mission church with its stucco walls, remained until the property was sold in 1932 to house the Barker Playhouse, reputed to be the oldest continuously operating little theatre in the United States.


Stonington Opera House // 1912

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The Stonington Opera House in Stonington, Maine, is a historic early 20th century community center and theater in a vernacular style. The theater was built in 1912, on the site of an earlier hall built in 1886, that seated more than 1,000 people and hosted national touring shows that arrive via steamboat from Rockland. The original theater was destroyed by fire in 1910 and was soon-after rebuilt. It continued the practice of the earlier facility, hosting theatrical productions, lectures, and community events. Its floor was covered with removable folding chairs, so that the space could be used for dances and other social events. It was fitted for screening films around 1918, which came to dominate its uses in the mid-20th century. Unlike other early theaters, which were generally incorporated into municipal buildings, this one was specifically built as a profit-making venture, and was designed to accommodate elaborate theatrical productions, and is probably the oldest of this type in the state. After being vacated for much of the later half of the 20th century, the Stonington Opera House was restored and reopened by Opera House Arts, a local nonprofit, in 2000, and is once again used primarily for film screenings and theatrical productions.

Peerless-Capitol Theater // 1894

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Located across from the North Abington Depot, this structure was constructed in 1894 as a leather harness and saddle shop by local businessman, Henry Crossley. The expensive building of cut granite and brick seemed to have overextended Mr. Crossley’s means, as he would soon-after file for bankruptcy. The building would remain as commercial use until 1915, when the property was purchased by the Peerless Amusement Company for use as a 300-seat theater. By the 1930s, the building became known as the Capitol Theater, and was listed to seat 230 customers on the main floor and 70 in the balcony. Due to the more rural nature of the cinema, it closed in the mid-20th century, and suffered from neglect for decades until it was restored and is currently housing apartments. 

Steinert Building // 1894

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The Steinert Building on Boylston Street in Boston is one of the city’s most iconic and mysterious buildings. The Beaux Arts style building was constructed in 1894 from plans by architects Winslow & Wetherell and contained three floors of display rooms, three floors of teaching studios and practice rooms. The building is arguably best-known for the 650-seat Steinert Hall, a basement concert hall constructed 35′ under ground and considered by some to be one of the most perfect concert halls, acoustically, in the U.S. The building was constructed as the national headquarters for the prestigious firm of M. Steinert & Sons, one of the largest and finest music stores in New England. Established in 1860 by Morris Steinert, a Bavarian musician, musical instrument collector and founder of the New Haven Symphony (originally Steinert’s Family Orchestra). The company was expanded under his second son, Alexander Steinert, who had the Steinert Building in Boston built, requiring a music hall to showcase musicians and their products. The subterranean concert hall closed in the 1940s, following the 1942 Cocoanut Grove fire, the third-deadliest building fire in American history, which resulted in deaths of 492 people. This tragedy inspired an entirely new set of building and fire codes throughout the city; which ultimately would close Steinert Hall, as it had only one means of egress, making it too cost-prohibitive to bring the theatre into compliance. The building was long-operated as a piano showroom, but closed in 2017 and has been vacant ever-since. The basement music hall remains frozen in time, awaiting a new life.

Strand Theater // 1923

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The Strand Theater on Main Street in Rockland, Maine, is a great example of the inter-war theaters that sprouted up in towns all across the country following WWI. The theater was built in 1922-23, on the site of a building destroyed in a 1922 fire that swept through the southern part of Rockland’s downtown. The steel-framed theater, with its terracotta tile walls and ornamental brick facade is fairly unadorned, besides the blade sign marquee reading “STRAND”. Two storefronts, a cigar store and a flower shop, were also incorporated into the theater, framing the entrance. The theater stayed open until the early 2000s when the local multiplex bought it and closed it. In February, 2004, the theatre was purchased by a long-time summer resident who restored the building and opened it back up. The Strand remains a vital economic and cultural center for the town, and its preservation is an important piece of Rockland’s charming Main Street.

Avon Cinema // 1938

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There are fewer and fewer historic movie theaters in America, largely due to the proliferation of larger theaters at the end of the 20th century and the more recent trend of streaming. Smaller, family-owned theaters are becoming rare, so if we value the charm and character of these spaces, we have to support the arts at these spaces! The Avon Cinema is located in Providence’s East Side neighborhood and premiered on February 15, 1938 with the French film Beethoven’s Great Love (titled “The Life and Loves of Beethoven” in the U.S.) The theater was originally constructed in 1915 and operated as the Toy Theater for a few years before it closed. After decades, the building was purchased by the Dulgarian Brothers, who reopened the theater, naming it Avon. The Dulgarian family has owned and operated the theater to this day and have made a point to restore the building and maintain the historic charm.