Washington Street Theatre District | |
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    | |
| Location | Boston, Massachusetts |
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| Coordinates | 42°21′14″N71°3′46″W / 42.35389°N 71.06278°W |
| Built | 1870 |
| Architectural style | Late Gothic Revival, Italianate |
| NRHP reference No. | 79000370 [1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 19, 1979 |
The Boston Theater District is the center of Boston's theater scene. [2] Many of its theaters are on Washington Street, Tremont Street, Boylston Street, and Huntington Avenue. [3] [4] [5]
Plays were banned in Boston by the Puritans until 1792. [5] [6] Boston's first theater opened in 1793. [7] [8] In 1900, the Boston Theater District had 31 theaters, with 50,000 seats. [6] In the 1940s, the city had over 50 theaters. [2] Since the 1970s, developers have renovated old theaters. [2]
Suffolk University bought the Modern Theater in 2008. It has since reopened and hosts a variety of performances. [9] For their efforts, Suffolk won a Preservation Honor Award from the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2011. [10]
Emerson College now uses the Paramount Theater as a "mixed-use residential, academic, and performance venue." [11]
The Washington Street Theatre District, consisting of seven buildings on the west side of Washington Street (numbers 511-559), was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. [1] Buildings in the district include the Boston Opera House, built on the site of the city's second theater. Its entrance hall is the city's only surviving work of noted theater designer Thomas W. Lamb. Also in the district are the 1932 Paramount Theatre and the Modern Theatre. These theaters and their predecessors have displayed the gamut of theatrical entertainment across more than two centuries, including vaudeville, comedy, and film. [12]
Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the tenth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a law school in 1906 and named after its location in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The university is also host to its namesake public opinion poll, the Suffolk University Political Research Center.
"Combat Zone" was the name given in the 1960s to the adult entertainment district in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Centered on Washington Street between Boylston Street and Kneeland Street, the area was once the site of many strip clubs, peep shows, X-rated movie theaters, and adult bookstores. It had a reputation for crime, including prostitution.
Emerson College is a private college with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts. It also maintains campuses in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, and in Well, Limburg, Netherlands. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," the college offers more than three dozen degree and professional training programs specializing in the fields of arts and communication with a foundation in liberal arts studies. The college is one of the founding members of the ProArts Consortium, an association of six neighboring institutions in Boston dedicated to arts education at the collegiate level. Emerson is also notable for the college's namesake public opinion poll, Emerson College Polling.
Beacon Hill is a historic neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is also the location of the Massachusetts State House. The term "Beacon Hill" is used locally as a metonym to refer to the state government or the legislature itself, much like Washington, D.C.'s Capitol Hill does at the federal level.
Downtown Crossing is a shopping district within Downtown Boston, Massachusetts, located east of Boston Common, west of the Financial District, south of Government Center, and north of Chinatown and the old Combat Zone. It features large department stores as well as restaurants, souvenir sellers, general retail establishments, and street vendors. The Downtown Crossing MBTA station lies in the center of the district.
El Capitan Theatre is a fully restored movie palace at 6838 Hollywood Boulevard in the Hollywood neighborhood in Los Angeles, California, United States. The theater and adjacent Hollywood Masonic Temple are owned by The Walt Disney Company and serve as the venue for a majority of the Walt Disney Studios' film premieres.
The Ed Sullivan Theater is a theater at 1697–1699 Broadway, between 53rd and 54th streets, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Built from 1926 to 1927 as a Broadway theater, the Sullivan was developed by Arthur Hammerstein in memory of his father, Oscar Hammerstein I. The two-level theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp with over 1,500 seats, though the modern Ed Sullivan Theater was downsized to 370 seats by 2015. The neo-Gothic interior is a New York City designated landmark, and the building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The culture of Boston, Massachusetts, shares many roots with greater New England, including a dialect of the Eastern New England accent popularly known as Boston English. The city has its own unique slang, which has existed for many years. Boston was, and is still, a major destination of Irish immigrants. Irish Americans are a major influence on Boston's politics and religious institutions and consequently on the rest of Massachusetts.
Paramount Theatre is a theatre in Boston on Washington Street, between Avery and West Streets.
Tremont Street is a major thoroughfare in Boston, Massachusetts.
Architectural Resources Group is a firm founded in 1980 by Bruce Judd and Steve Farneth in San Francisco, California. It began by providing professional services in the fields of architecture and urban planning with particular expertise in historic preservation. In 2000, David Wessel, a Principal of ARG, founded a separate conservation-contracting division, ARG Conservation Services which operates under the same roof as ARG. By 2005, the firm had expanded to a full-service architecture firm with 50+ employees. ARG also opened offices in Pasadena serving Southern California, and Portland, Oregon, serving the Pacific Northwest.
The Hudson Theatre is a Broadway theater at 139–141 West 44th Street, between Seventh Avenue and Sixth Avenue, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. One of the oldest surviving Broadway venues, the Hudson was built from 1902 to 1903. The exterior was designed by J. B. McElfatrick & Son, while Israels & Harder oversaw the completion of the interior. The theater has 970 seats across three levels. Both its exterior and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the theater is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Huntington Theatre Company is a professional theatre located in Boston, Massachusetts and the recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award, under the direction of Managing Director Michael Maso. It is notable for its longstanding artistic relationship with African-American playwright August Wilson.
The Modern Theatre is located on Washington Street in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It opened as a movie theater in 1914 in a former commercial building that had been repurposed by noted theater architect Clarence H. Blackall. In 2009 Suffolk University demolished the long-vacant building after removing and storing the facade, and constructed a new building on the site. Suffolk's new Modern Theatre opened on November 4, 2010.
Coolidge Corner Theatre is a nonprofit, independent cinema and community cultural center in the Coolidge Corner section of Brookline, Massachusetts, specializing in international, documentary, animated, and independent film selections, series, classes, and seminars.
The performing arts in Detroit include orchestra, live music, and theater, with more than a dozen performing arts venues. The stages and old time film palaces are generally located along Woodward Avenue, the city's central thoroughfare, in the Downtown, Midtown, and New Center areas. Some additional venues are located in neighborhood areas of the city. Many of the city's significant historic theaters have been revitalized.
The St. James Theatre (1912–1929) of Boston, Massachusetts, was a playhouse and cinema in the Back Bay in the 1910s and 1920s. It occupied the former Chickering Hall on Huntington Avenue near Massachusetts Avenue, adjacent to Horticultural Hall. For some years Loew's theatre chain oversaw the St. James. In 1929 the theatre "became part of the Publix (Paramount) chain, and was renamed the Uptown."
The Yiddish Theatre District, also called the Jewish Rialto and the Yiddish Realto, was the center of New York City's Yiddish theatre scene in the early 20th century. It was located primarily on Second Avenue, though it extended to Avenue B, between Houston Street and East 14th Street in the East Village in Manhattan. The District hosted performances in Yiddish of Jewish, Shakespearean, classic, and original plays, comedies, operettas, and dramas, as well as vaudeville, burlesque, and musical shows.
Langone Park is a waterfront park in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts. Established in 1973, it is named for Massachusetts state senator Joseph A. Langone, Jr. and his wife Clementina Langone. The park features a Little League Baseball field, a playground, and three bocce courts. It is located on Commercial Street at the edge of Boston Harbor, immediately to the west of the Andrew P. Puopolo Jr. Athletic Field.