Full name | Tabernacle of Prayer |
---|---|
Former names | Loew's Valencia Theatre |
Location | 165-11 Jamaica Avenue, Queens, New York |
Construction | |
Built | June–December 1928 |
Opened | January 12, 1929 |
Architect | John Eberson |
General contractor | Thompson–Starrett Company |
Designated | May 25, 1999 |
Reference no. | 2036 |
The Valencia Theatre (formerly the Loew's Valencia Theatre) is a former movie palace at 165-11Jamaica Avenue in Queens, New York City. Built in 1929 as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres, the theater was donated to The Tabernacle of Prayer for All People in 1977. It was designated an exterior landmark on May 25, 1999, by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. [1]
In 1926–27, builder Ralph Riccardo acquired the site at Jamaica Avenue and Merrick Road, selling half of the site to the Famous Players–Lasky Corporation (Paramount) who then sold the property to Loew's. [2] Construction started in June 1928 by the Thompson-Starrett Company and was completed in December of that year. [3] It was designed by John Eberson, known for his atmospheric theaters. [4] The interior is adorned in Spanish Colonial and pre-Columbian styles. [5] While the facade is made of brick and terra cotta in the Spanish and Mexican style of the Baroque period. [3] The auditorium walls are adorned with statues, parapets and towers, asymmetrically arranged while the ceiling remains unadorned, like a sky above. [4]
The theatre seats 3,500 people and was the first of the five Loew’s Wonder Theatres, opening on January 12, 1929, with Monte Blue and Raquel Torres in “White Shadows in the South Seas” plus vaudeville on stage. [6] [7] Along with the other Wonder Theatres, it was equipped with a Robert Morton ‘Wonder’ organ of 4 manuals and 23 ranks. [5] It quickly became an attraction for people in not only Jamaica, but Queens and the greater Long Island area to watch the movies. In 1977, the building was donated to the Tabernacle of Prayer who restored the theatre. [1] The organ moved to the Balboa Theatre in San Diego, California where it was restored and debuted in 2009. [5] [8]
The Seventh Avenue station is an interchange station on the IND Sixth Avenue Line and the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Seventh Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan, it is served by the D and E trains at all times, and the B train on weekdays.
The Kings Theatre, formerly Loew's Kings Theatre, is a live performance venue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. Opened by Loew's Theatres as a movie palace in 1929 and closed in 1977, the theater sat empty for decades until a complete renovation was initiated in 2010. The theater reopened to the public on January 23, 2015 as a performing arts venue. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 22, 2012.
The Loew's Wonder Theatres were movie palaces of the Loew's Theatres chain in and near New York City. These five lavishly designed theaters were built by Loew's to establish its preeminence in film exhibition in the metropolitan New York City area and to serve as the chain's flagship venues, each in its own area. All five theaters are still standing. One operates as a community performing arts center; one is a commercial live entertainment venue; and three are currently used as churches, with one of those also used for entertainment.
The Forest Hills–71st Avenue station is an express station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, located on Queens Boulevard at 71st (Continental) Avenue in Forest Hills, Queens. It is served by the E and F trains at all times, the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction, the M train on weekdays during the day, and the R train at all times except late nights. It serves as the terminus for the M and R services.
The Loew's Jersey Theatre is a theater in Jersey City, New Jersey. Opened in 1929, it was one of the five Loew's Wonder Theatres, a series of flagship Loew's movie palaces in the New York City area. It was designed by the architectural firm of Rapp and Rapp in a Baroque/Rococo style. It was purchased by the city in 1993 and has been operated by a volunteer organization, the Friends of the Loews, since that time. The theater was designated as a New Jersey Registered Historic Site in 2009. In a move opposed by Friends of the Loews, the city in June 2014, agreed to let AEG Live operate the venue. After going to court, the lease by Friends of the Loews remains in effect. In 2022, a $72 million restoration project was started by Devils Arena Entertainment, a division of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment that operates the Prudential Center, with completion being expected by 2025.
The 75th Avenue station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 75th Avenue and Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills, Queens, it is served by the F train at all times, the E train at all times except weekday rush hours and middays, and the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction.
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theater at 220 West 48th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States. Opened in 1913, it was designed by Henry B. Herts and was named for Longacre Square, now known as Times Square. The Longacre has 1,077 seats and is operated by The Shubert Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium's interior are New York City designated landmarks.
The 169th Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of 169th Street and Hillside Avenue in Queens, it is served by the F train at all times, the <F> train during rush hours in the reverse peak direction, and a few rush-hour E trains to Jamaica–179th Street during p.m. rush hours.
The 65th Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, located at the intersection of 65th Street and Broadway in Queens. It is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night. The station opened on August 19, 1933, as part of the Independent Subway System's Queens Boulevard Line.
The Woodhaven Boulevard station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway, consisting of four tracks. Located in Elmhurst, Queens, it is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night. The station serves the adjacent Queens Center Mall, as well as numerous bus lines.
The Beacon Theatre is an entertainment venue at 2124 Broadway, adjacent to the Hotel Beacon, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1929, the Beacon Theatre was developed by Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and built as a movie palace, with 2,894 seats across three levels. It was designed by Walter W. Ahlschlager with decorations inspired by the Renaissance, Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek, and Rococo styles. The theater is designated as a New York City interior landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
John Adolph Emil Eberson was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, earning the nickname "Opera House John". His most notable surviving theatres in the United States include the Tampa Theatre (1926), Palace Theatre Marion (1928), Palace Theatre Louisville (1928), Majestic Theatre (1929), Akron Civic Theatre (1929), the Paramount Theatre (1929), the State Theater 1927, and the Lewis J. Warner Memorial Theater (1932) at Worcester Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts. Remaining international examples in the atmospheric style include both the Capitol Theatre (1928) and State Theatre (1929) in Sydney, Australia, The Forum and Le Grand Rex.
The United Palace is a theater at 4140 Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The theater, occupying a full city block bounded by Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue, and West 175th and 176th Streets, functions both as a spiritual center and as a nonprofit cultural and performing arts center. The architect, Thomas W. Lamb, designed the theater as a movie palace, which opened on February 22, 1930, as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. The theater's interior decor, incorporating elements of numerous architectural styles, was supervised by Lamb and Harold Rambusch.
The Robert Morton Organ Company was an American producer of theater pipe organs and church organs, located in Van Nuys, California. Robert Morton was the number two volume producer of theatre organs, building approximately half as many organs as the industry leader Wurlitzer. The name Robert Morton was derived not from any person in the company, but rather from the name of company president Harold J. Werner's son, Robert Morton Werner.
The Brooklyn Manor station was a station on the Long Island Rail Road's Rockaway Beach Branch located on the south side of Jamaica Avenue at 100th Street, straddling the border between Richmond Hill and Woodhaven in Queens, New York City. The station name referred to the nearby Brooklyn Manor section of Woodhaven, originally a 603-lot development bounded by Woodhaven Boulevard to the west, 96th/98th Streets to the east, Forest Park to the north, and Jamaica Avenue to the south. The station opened in January 1911, and was constructed as a replacement for the Brooklyn Hills station, which was located 3,000 feet (910 m) to the north. This station closed along with the rest of the Rockaway Beach Branch in 1962, and was subsequently demolished.
The Paradise Theater, formerly Loew's Paradise Theatre, is a movie palace-type theater located at 2417 Grand Concourse in the Bronx, New York. Constructed in 1929 at the height of grand movie theaters, in the later 20th century the building was used also for live entertainment. It was leased in 2012 for use by the World Changers Church International New York for founding a local congregation.
The 165th Street Bus Terminal, also known as Jamaica Bus Terminal, the Long Island Bus Terminal, Jamaica−165th Street Terminal, or simply 165th Street Terminal, is a major bus terminal in Jamaica, Queens. Owned by FBE Limited, the terminal serves both NYCT and MTA Bus lines as well as NICE Bus lines to Nassau County, and was a hub to Green Bus Lines prior to MTA takeover. It is located at 89th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard, near the Queens Public Library's main branch. Most buses that pass through Jamaica serve either this terminal, the Jamaica Center subway station at Parsons Boulevard, or the LIRR station at Sutphin Boulevard.
Kostow Greenwood Architects LLP, is a New York City-based architecture firm, specializing in broadcast and live arts facilities, interior architecture and historic preservation and renovation and urban revitalization projects. Serving commercial, nonprofit and institutional clients, the firm was founded in 1987, and is led by principals Michael Kostow and Jane Greenwood. Kostow Greenwood is a Minority and Women-owned Business Enterprise.
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