Kings Theatre (Brooklyn)
Ambassador Theatre Group | |
Type | Movie palace |
---|---|
Capacity | 3,250 |
Current use | Entertainment venue |
Construction | |
Opened | September 7, 1929 |
Rebuilt | 2013–2015 |
Years active | 1929–1977 2015–present |
Architect | Rapp and Rapp Martinez & Johnson (restoration) |
Website | |
www | |
Loew's Kings Theatre | |
Location | 1027 Flatbush Avenue Brooklyn, New York City |
Coordinates | 40°38′45″N 73°57′27″W / 40.6458°N 73.9575°W |
Built | 1929 |
Architectural style | French Baroque |
NRHP reference No. | 12000534 |
Added to NRHP | August 22, 2012[1] |
The Kings Theatre (formerly Loew's Kings Theatre) is a
The Kings Theatre occupies an irregular site and is divided into two sections: the lobby section and the auditorium. The lobby section has an elaborate
A theater on the site was originally proposed in 1919 by
Description
The Loew's Kings Theatre was designed by the architectural firm of
The theater is located at 1027 Flatbush Avenue in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City.[9][10] The site occupies the center of a city block bounded to the south by Duryea Place and to the north by Tilden Avenue. The Kings Theatre occupies an irregular site and is divided into two sections: the lobby section and the auditorium. The main entrance faces west toward Flatbush Avenue; the lobbies extend east of the entrance before turning 45 degrees to the southeast. The auditorium extends to the northeast of the lobbies.[9] The theater was originally bounded by East 22nd Street to the east, but that street was closed and partially removed to make way for an expanded stage house in the 2010s.[11][12] Behind the stage house is a public parking lot located east of East 22nd Street.[8][13] The Sears Roebuck & Company Department Store is located immediately southeast of the theater.[14]
Facade
The facade rises three stories from Flatbush Avenue. The roof of the lobby section measures 38 feet (12 m) tall, although the facade on Flatbush Avenue is 40 feet (12 m) tall, obscuring the lobby's roof.[9] The auditorium originally had a roof measuring 84 feet (26 m)[9] or 87 feet (27 m) tall.[15] There are 3-foot-tall (0.91 m) parapets surrounding the roof of the auditorium to the west and east. In addition, the originally stage house to the northeast of the auditorium measured 35 feet (11 m) tall.[9] The replacement stage house is 97 feet (30 m) tall[15] and occupies part of the former right-of-way of East 22nd Street.[11][12]
Flatbush Avenue elevation
The only
The rest of the facade above the marquee is clad in cream-colored
Other elevations
The facades of the lobby section's northern and southern elevations are clad in plain brick and lack windows. The southern elevation is discolored due to the presence of an adjacent one-story building that no longer exists.[19] The facade of the auditorium is also utilitarian, with little decoration, although the auditorium does have some windows. There is a brick chimney above the southeastern corner of the auditorium. In addition, a parapet with terracotta coping runs above the perimeter of the auditorium. There are emergency-exit doorways leading from the northern and southern walls of the auditorium section.[20]
Interior
The interior was designed by
Originally, the theater's interior space totaled about 63,000 to 68,000 square feet (5,900 to 6,300 m2).[24][25] Following a renovation in the 2010s, it was expanded to 101,970 square feet (9,473 m2).[15] When the theater opened, it had a 400-foot-deep (120 m) well, which supplied 400 U.S. gallons (1,500 L) of water for the mechanical equipment every minute. There was also an air-filtering system that could clean about 140,000 cubic feet (4,000 m3) of air per minute. The system drew air from openings on the building's roof, and it pushed out air via "mushrooms" under the auditorium's seats.[26]
Vestibule and lobbies

Just past the entrance is a north–south vestibule occupying the entire frontage on Flatbush Avenue. The vestibule's western wall has a storefront with brass-and-glass doors leading from the entrance, and the eastern wall has a nearly identical storefront leading to the lobby. There was a ticket booth on the eastern wall, which was identical to the one at the entrance, but no longer exists. On the vestibule's north and south walls are marble panels with mirrors. The floor of the vestibule is made of poured concrete with rubber mats. On the ceiling is a grid of iron beams, with rosettes at the intersections of each set of beams; the ceiling is surrounded by a plaster cornice.[21]
To the east of the vestibule is the main lobby, which is oriented east–west[21] and measures about 40 by 75 feet (12 by 23 m) across.[17][27] The marble floor is divided into a grid of pink and white tiles with a red-and-black border.[28] Originally, the space had brass railings so patrons could form queues.[27] The walls are 30 feet (9.1 m) high;[17] the lower portions are decorated with red marble dadoes, while the upper portions have walnut panels.[28][26] On the western wall of the main lobby is the archway from the vestibule.[29] The lobby walls contain groups of wooden pilasters with ornate capitals, which flank one arched bay to the north and two to the south. The lower portions of the arched bays have walnut display cases, while the upper portions have mirrors, draperies, and painted plaster decorations.[28] The mirror frames, trim, and pilasters were all carved by hand.[26] The eastern half of the north wall contains an archway, underneath which is a stair that ascends to the mezzanine.[29] The main lobby's eastern wall has two archways, flanked by walnut columns in the Corinthian order; the left (northeast) archway leads to the orchestra-level foyer, while the right (southeast) archway leads to the inner lobby.[27][29] The ceiling, inspired by that of the Palazzo Medici Riccardi,[23] is made of plaster, with elaborate octagonal and square coffers.[28] Three Art Deco lantern-shaped chandeliers with prisms, fleurs-de-lis, and pendeloques hang from the ceiling;[28][30] each chandelier weighs about 1 short ton (0.89 long tons; 0.91 t).[31]
The inner lobby is 80 by 32 feet (24.4 by 9.8 m) across,[17] extending southeast from the main lobby, and is built of similar materials to the main lobby.[28] On the southwestern wall are protruding wooden pilasters, which divide the wall into three arched bays. Wooden columns divide the northeastern wall into three archways, behind which are the mezzanine and the orchestra-level foyer; there is a cast iron balcony railing at the mezzanine level.[32] A stair to the mezzanine runs along the southeastern wall.[17][32] There are blind openings with wooden grilles behind the staircase. Red and gold draperies hang from the archways and arched bays. The barrel-vaulted ceiling is made of plaster, with coffers similar to those on the main lobby's ceiling, and has four chandeliers. In addition, the concrete floor is covered with carpeting.[32]
Foyers and lounges
Directly northeast of the inner lobby are foyers on both the ground (orchestra) level and the mezzanine level, which have simpler design details than those in the lobbies.[26] The orchestra-level foyer measures 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 185 feet (56 m) long.[33] It runs parallel to, and just to the northeast of, the inner lobby.[32] Leading off the orchestra foyer are several lounges and other spaces. These include a men's lounge, a women's lounge, a cosmetic room, a coat-check room, offices, and a stair to the basement.[34] The women's lounge had such decorations as draperies, marble fountains, and a marble fireplace mantel.[30] The mezzanine foyer is directly above the orchestra foyer. The men's lounge, women's lounge, and cosmetic room all connect with the mezzanine foyer, and there is also a stair leading from the mezzanine foyer to a projection room.[34] The projection room still exists, but the projector is no longer usable as of 2019; instead, a digital projector is used whenever the Kings screens movies. Three of the theater's four lounges were also restored in the 2010s and are open to the public.[8]
On the southwestern wall of the orchestra foyer are archways leading from the inner lobby. These archways are decorated with
The mezzanine foyer is accessed by two stairs, one each from the main and inner lobbies. The main-lobby stair ascends behind the north wall of that room; it is L-shaped with an intermediate landing. The bottom steps of the main-lobby stairs are curved, and the other steps have carpeted treads. In addition, the main-lobby stair has a cast-iron balustrade atop a marble base.[34] The inner-lobby stair is decorated similarly and is also L-shaped, though the stair is within the inner lobby itself rather than behind a wall. There is a trapezoidal opening on the wall underneath the stair, with a metal grate.[34] The mezzanine foyer itself has seven recessed double doors, surrounded by guilloché moldings, which lead to the auditorium's rear aisle. The foyer's floors are carpeted, while the ceiling has plaster decorations such as medallions. The plaster walls contain pilasters and decorative fabric panels, and a cornice runs atop each wall.[34]
Auditorium

The auditorium is symmetrically arranged on a southwest–northeast axis; it faces the stage in the northeast.[34] The auditorium measures 155 feet (47 m) deep from front to rear, and it is 160 feet (49 m) wide at its rear wall, though the front rows are substantially narrower.[33][27] The ceiling is 90 feet (27 m) tall.[30] In contrast to other theaters with multiple balconies, the Loew's Kings Theatre has only one balcony level, since Rapp and Rapp wanted to improve the auditorium's acoustics.[35] The balcony level is shallow and horseshoe-shaped.[36][35] Both the orchestra level and the balcony are raked, sloping down toward an orchestra pit in front of the stage.[35] When the theater was renovated in the 2010s, both levels were re-raked to improve sightlines from the rear seats.[8][37][38]
The auditorium originally had 3,690 seats across two levels;[34][39] the balcony had only 800 seats, and the remaining 2,890 seats were on the parterre-level orchestra.[40][41] The capacity was downsized to 3,250 seats after the theater's 2010s renovation,[2][42] with 2,400 seats in the orchestra and 800 in the balcony.[38] Despite the reduced capacity, the theater is the fourth-largest live events venue in New York City as of 2015, behind Radio City Music Hall, The Theater at Madison Square Garden, and the Metropolitan Opera House.[2]
Aisles extend through the orchestra level from the rear to the front, dividing the space lengthwise into seven sections.[33][36] There is an additional cross-aisle partway through the orchestra level.[36] Originally, the seats were 22 inches (560 mm) wide, larger than typical movie-theater seats of the period, which tended to be 18 to 19 inches (460 to 480 mm) wide. In addition, each row of seats was about 40 inches (1,000 mm) deep from one seatback to the next; by comparison, other theaters had seating rows that were only 32 inches (810 mm) deep.[26] In the 2010s, the seats were widened, and legroom was increased as well.[8][37][38] Approximately 300 seats in the modern-day theater, mostly near the stage and orchestra pit can be removed to increase capacity for standing-room only audiences.[8] The stage measures 34 by 80 feet (10 by 24 m) across, and the orchestra pit, which can fit 40 musicians, measures 50 by 14 feet (15.2 by 4.3 m) across.[43] The modern-day orchestra pit has a 350-square-foot (33 m2) orchestra lift.[44] In addition, the orchestra pit has a removable barricade for events where the front rows of seating are removed.[8]
Design features
The orchestra pit at the front of the theater is surrounded by a plaster-and-marble balustrade.
The underside of the balcony has an elaborate fascia and soffit made of plaster. There are round and square plaster columns under the balcony,[45] which obstruct views from parts of the orchestra.[35] In addition, a fulcrum truss supports the balcony.[35] The balcony level itself has cast-iron lighting stanchions,[45] and there are VIP seating areas on that level.[8]
The rear and side walls contain a colonnade of distyle columns in the Corinthian order. These columns flank parabolic arches with red-and-gold draperies, which provide access to the mezzanine seats from the mezzanine's side aisles. The arches are set between wide piers, which contain fabric panels and small niches at the orchestra level.[45] There are also murals on the balcony level.[30][47] Above each of the piers are pendentives, which support the ceiling. The ceiling is made of plaster and is split up into colorful octagonal and square coffers. At the center of the ceiling is a recessed quatrefoil panel.[45] The ceiling's color scheme was intended to harmonize with the decorations in the rest of the auditorium.[26] The top of the ceiling dome is 75 feet (23 m) high and is decorated in a red, gold, and blue scheme.[48]
Organ
Like the other Wonder Theaters, the Loew's Kings Theatre featured a "Wonder Morton" theater pipe organ manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company.[49][50] The organ featured a console with 4 manuals and 23 ranks of pipes.[49] There were 3,000 pipes in total, divided evenly between two organ lofts. When the theater was built, the organ cost $75,000 (equivalent to $1,373,000 in 2024).[50] The organ remained at the theater until 1974, when Loew's disassembled the organ, with the intention of donating it to Town Hall in Manhattan.[49][50] However, the instrument was never reinstalled; it was vandalized extensively, and parts of the organ were stolen.[49][51] An organ collector from the Bronx, Donald Schwing, had acquired the remains of the organ by 1980.[51] Paul Van Der Molen acquired the console in 1998 and rebuilt it in his house in Wheaton, Illinois.[49][52]

The Van Der Molen family donated Wonder Morton to the New York Theatre Organ Society in 2011.[53][54] The organ was removed from the family's home and placed in storage for an anticipated return to the restored Kings Theatre.[52][55] The renovation budget, however, did not include the $650,000 cost of relocating and reinstalling the organ.[56][54] In December 2014, the theater's developer ACE Theatrical Group agreed to help develop an electronic reproduction of the Wonder Morton. The donated pipe work would be sold or donated to a suitable venue.[57] The rest of Van Der Molen's organ, which was not part of the original Wonder Morton, is in the collection of the University of Oklahoma.[54][52]
Back-of-house areas
The basement has a lounge and restrooms. There are several back-of-house spaces in the basement, such as a utility-meter room, an ushers' suite, refrigeration rooms, and machine rooms. There are storage rooms under the stage, along with rooms for the organ, piano, and musicians.
Use as movie palace
Development and opening
Prior to the development of the current theater, the site at 1027 Flatbush Avenue had been occupied by a
Paramount-Publix reassigned its leases of the Kings, Pitkin, and Valencia theaters to Loew's in November 1927.[71] For the Kings Theatre's construction, Loew's Inc. agreed to pay Allied Owners Inc. $20,000 a month for 181 months, in exchange for receiving financing from Allied Owners Inc.,[65][72] and Paramount-Publix agreed to guarantee the Kings Theatre's construction.[73] Loew's Inc. was to have taken ownership of the property in 1945, once the bonds had been paid off.[67] Since sound films were becoming prevalent at the time,[8][40] the Kings Theatre was the first Loew's theater that was designed specifically to accommodate the acoustics of sound films.[46] The Thompson–Starrett Company was the general contractor for the theater,[26][39] while Leon Fleischmann of Loew's Theaters supervised the theater's construction.[39][74]
Loew's announced in early 1928 that it would begin constructing four of the theaters, including the theater in Flatbush.[75] Construction began with the demolition of the railyard. Afterward, workers constructed the foundation, steel superstructure, and roof; to speed up construction, workers built the lower and upper portions of the theater concurrently.[22] By early August 1929, decorators were finishing up the interiors.[74] The project cost $1.3 million in total.[22] The Kings Theatre was supposed to have opened on August 24, 1929,[76][77] but the opening was postponed three times.[78] When the theater was completed, the New York Herald Tribune called it "Brooklyn's largest residential picture house".[79] The theater opened to the public at 11 a.m. on September 7, 1929, and was dedicated that night.[80] The first show was a program that included the film Evangeline, a live stage show, orchestra, and solo pipe organ; the film's star, Dolores del Río, made a special live appearance.[80][81] When the Kings opened, it was surrounded by at least six other movie theaters.[5]
Operation

The Loew's Kings presented first runs of films along with stage shows when it opened.[77][82] Initially, the Loew's Kings presented stage shows that had already been performed at the Capitol Theatre in Manhattan.[83][84] In addition to films and stage shows, the Kings Theater hosted events such as beauty pageants,[47][5] merchandise displays,[85] fundraisers,[86] and awards ceremonies.[87] The theater frequently hosted high-school graduations, as it was one of the few venues in Brooklyn that were large enough to accommodate large student bodies. Among the students who had their graduation ceremonies there were the U.S. senator Chuck Schumer and the musician Carole King.[37] Other activities at the Kings Theatre included Christmas parties for orphans, in addition to contract bridge lessons.[5]
In the theater's early years, the balcony area was so popular that it was often filled to capacity before all the orchestra seats had been occupied.[27] The theater's managers checked the equipment every week. To prevent overcrowding, patrons lined up in the main lobby before each show; the theater's ushers silently led patrons to their seats, one row at a time.[88] The Kings employed 18 ushers, as well as numerous doormen, captains, cashiers, projectionists, janitors, cleaners, engineers, and electricians.[89] The staff over the years included Sylvester Stallone and Henry Winkler, who worked there as ushers.[90][91] Local legend has it that Barbra Streisand was an usher at the theater as well, though she never worked there; however, Streisand did watch movies at the theater frequently.[37]
During the 1930s, the Kings Theatre's performers included
1920s to 1940s
Edward Douglas, who had trained more than 3,000 musicians for U.S. military bands,[96] was the theater's first director.[97][98] The Kings Theatre originally had a 40-piece orchestra,[95] which at the time of the opening was led by a 29-year-old conductor, David Pesetzki.[97][99] The theater mostly screened movies produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, a subsidiary of Loew's.[8] In late 1929, Loew's orchestras began playing at alternating theaters, so the Paradise Theatre's orchestra was moved to the Kings Theatre.[100] In 1930, Loew's installed a Trans-tone wide screen at the Kings Theatre.[101] Loew's announced that June that the Kings would no longer host live vaudeville shows during the summer.[102]
Loew's
By the late 1930s, the Kings no longer presented vaudeville at all, but it still presented some live shows.[108] One of the theater's former ushers recalled that the organ loft and the orchestra pit were no longer being regularly used at the time.[88] Instead, double features were screened for almost 12 hours a day, seven days a week; the theater also screened newsreels and short films.[88][89] Typically, the double features were followed by a cartoon, a newsreel, a short travel film, and a trailer.[109] During World War II, a nurse-recruitment booth operated in the theater's lobby,[110] and the theater hosted charity balls and war-bond sales along with movies.[3] Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1948 ruling in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., Loew's Theaters was forced to split up its film-production and film-exhibition divisions.[8][89][111] As part of the split, Loew's Theatres was compelled to either sell the Kings Theatre or limit the types of shows that were to be presented there.[112][113]
1950s to 1970s

The Kings Theatre first hosted jazz concerts in 1952;[114] the theater hosted more concerts after the first one opened to generally positive acclaim.[115] The theater slowly declined after World War II, and it screened films almost exclusively.[3][8][49] By the 1960s, Loew's Theaters Inc. had begun to struggle financially, and the chain closed some of its larger theaters due to high expenses.[116] In addition, urban residents had begun to move to the suburbs, and neighborhood movie houses had to compete with shopping-mall multiplexes and household televisions.[95][89] The theater had a single screen, limiting the number of films that could be shown there.[3] The Loew's Kings began hosting events such as a televised boxing match in 1964,[117] and it started screening multiple first-run films the same year as part of the Showcase program.[118] Over the years, the original color palette of the auditorium was obscured due to successive repaintings, in addition to accumulations of soot from cigarette smoke.[8][37]
The theater's original pipe organ was played for the last time in 1974, after which it was disassembled and relocated.
The Kings Theatre briefly closed in early 1977.[8][121] The theater was sold to the Kings Royalty Production Corporation that May[89] at a cost of $718,385.[121] The Tabernacle of Prayer for All People, a Brooklyn–based church, negotiated to buy the Loew's Kings, but when these negotiations failed, the church moved to the Loew's Valencia Theatre.[122] The theater reopened in June 1977 and was renamed the Kings Theatre, without the Loew's name.[121] Ultimately, the theater was unable to continue operating due to high costs and low attendance.[123] Unlike other large theaters that were divided into multiplexes, the Kings could not be subdivided, both because the balcony was too narrow and because the orchestra level was too wide.[124] The Kings closed on August 30, 1977; the last films screened there were Islands in the Stream[125][126] and The Death of Bruce Lee.[109][95]
Abandonment and redevelopment
Redevelopment attempts
1970s and 1980s
When the Kings Theatre closed, the interior was almost completely intact,[127] and it was maintained by a skeleton crew.[95] Prior to its eventual reopening in 2015, there were at least seven unsuccessful attempts over the years to redevelop the theater.[8] In June 1978, Brooklyn borough president Howard Golden allocated $1.2 million in community development funds for the acquisition of the Kings Theatre.[128] Golden planned to renovate the interior into a cultural center.[128] The planned renovation was part of the Overall Economic Development Program, a wider-ranging development plan for Brooklyn.[129] Another proposal called for the theater to be converted into a roller rink.[4][95] The Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC) acquired the theater for $780,000 and planned to spend $8 million to $10 million converting the building into a live-events venue.[130] To raise money for the renovation, the FDC hosted a fundraiser at the theater in May 1979; it was the first event to be hosted at the venue in two years.[130][131] Supporters of the theater's conversion also wanted the building to be designated as an official landmark.[95] At the time, the FDC described the theater as still being in relatively good shape,[132] though some of the theater's artifacts were later sold off.[133]
The city government seized the theater in 1978,
There were rumors in 1982 that the theater was being sold to the entertainer Ben Vereen, though the FDC denied these claims.[144] The FDC continued to pursue the idea of reopening the Kings Theatre either for legitimate shows or as a recording studio.[145] Meanwhile, the empty theater was vandalized,[30][90] and the interiors continued to decay, with squatters moving into the vacant space.[146] As part of the citywide Adopt-a-Landmark program, students from South Shore High School "adopted" the theater in late 1985,[145][147] visiting the venue and documenting its history and architecture.[30][123] The FDC simultaneously commissioned a study, which determined that the theater could be converted either to retail space or an entertainment venue with some retail.[123] After the study was completed, the city government began looking for a developer to renovate the Kings Theatre.[123][7][148] A request for proposals was supposed to have been launched in July 1986, but it was delayed when city officials expressed concerns that there was insufficient demand for performing-arts programs at the theater.[147] A consultant for the FDC, Jack Freeman, also drew up plans to convert the theater into a mixed-use building.[135]
In late 1986, a consortium including the FDC, the J. M. Kaplan Fund, and Save the Theatres Inc. announced plans to redevelop the theater into a performing-arts venue.[149] Two Brooklyn residents, Mark Bender and Bruce Friedman, formed an organization known as Save the Kings.[124] The National Park Service determined that the theater was eligible for designation as a U.S. National Historic Landmark,[148] and the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission also determined that the theater was eligible for city-landmark protection.[150] In addition, the Prospect Park Environmental Center and Municipal Art Society sponsored walking tours of the abandoned Kings Theatre.[151] The city government was still looking to sell the theater by 1988.[152] The next year, city officials provided $200,000 for repairs to the Kings Theatre's roof.[153] The city government tried to close the section of East 22nd Street east of the theater, as part of the redevelopment of the parking lot there, but the street was not closed because of a clerical error.[154]
Early and mid-1990s
The New York City Economic Development Corporation (EDC) finally issued a request for expressions of interest (RFEI) for the theater in 1990.[68][155][156] At that point, the city estimated that it would cost $4.5 million just to bring the theater to a state of good repair, plus several million more dollars to restore the decorations.[155][156] The city sent out invitations to 170 developers, of which 30 replied.[134] The city government stipulated that the winning bidders had to continue operating the venue as a theater.[93] Golden believed that the theater's renovation would lead to the redevelopment of the Flatbush Avenue shopping district.[156] Workers began repairing the roof in 1991,[127] a project that cost $1.2–1.4 million.[136][94] Workers also repaired the plumbing and masonry.[93][94]
By 1991, the city government had identified two viable proposals.[134] The restaurateur and developer Bernard James wanted to convert the theater into a community center for Caribbean-Americans in Brooklyn, while the clothing and real-estate company Jordache wanted to divide the theater into a multiplex.[157] The EDC, which liked both proposals, requested that James and the Nakash brothers (who owned Jordache) submit a joint proposal for the theater.[92][94] James formed a group known as the Flatbush Universal Corporation to raise money for the theater;[92] among the fundraisers it hosted was a 1992 concert in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with Queen Latifah and Fela Kuti.[94][158] James said at the time that the building would include a hotel, health spa, restaurant, catering hall, and wax museum dedicated to the black community, along with a restored 3,200-seat auditorium.[92][94] These plans ultimately never materialized.[93][91]
Late 1990s and 2000s
The city government again requested new proposals for the Kings Theatre's renovation in late 1996.[91][159] By then, the adjacent section of Flatbush Avenue was already undergoing a commercial redevelopment.[93] Because the theater had never officially been designated as a landmark, developers were potentially allowed to demolish it.[93][159] Golden, who was still Brooklyn's borough president, endorsed the theater's renovation,[160] while Bruce Friedman of Save the Kings suggested that the Kings Theatre could be redeveloped as a mixed-use complex, similarly to the New Amsterdam Theatre in Manhattan.[159] Only one developer, Bruce Ratner, had expressed serious interest in the Kings Theatre site by mid-1997, but the EDC rejected his request that he unilaterally be appointed as the theater's developer.[161]
Magic Johnson Theatres, operated by the retired basketball player Magic Johnson, submitted a bid to redevelop the Kings Theatre in early 1998.[162][163] The plans entailed dividing the theater into a multiplex and constructing a restaurant there.[164] Other companies, including United Artists, also submitted bids for the theater's renovation.[163] Though the city government favored Johnson's plan, it debated whether to give the developer $5 million in financing for the theater's renovation.[165] The city government selected Johnson and the Plaza Construction Corporation as the Kings Theatre's developers in 1999.[166][167][168] Johnson planned to construct a 12-screen multiplex there at a cost of $30 million,[166][169] of which the city government was to provide $2.5 million.[167][168] About 175 people would have been hired to renovate the theater, and the completed theater would have employed 100 workers.[166][168] Johnson was to have started renovating the theater in late 1999,[169] but the renovation still had not begun by October 2000, in part because of financing difficulties.[170] Johnson's renovation was never completed, either.[2][171]
The theater remained abandoned through the 2000s while groups, such as the Theatre Historical Society of America, gave tours of the venue.[172] By the mid-2000s, the cost of restoring the Kings Theatre had increased to $35 million,[171] and city officials considered demolishing the interior.[173] The EDC launched yet another RFEI for the theater in September 2006,[24][173] giving tours to potential developers.[146] By then, the Kings' interior was damaged as a result of neglect, water damage, and vandalism, and there was toxic asbestos, lead, and mold inside.[25][127][174] Matthew Wolf, who later became the Kings' manager, recalled that the northwest corner of the roof had partially collapsed.[175] The roof was repaired again in 2007 to halt further deterioration.[127] The next year, the city government issued an RFP for the theater's renovation, which was to cost $70 million.[24][25][174] Bidders for the theater had the option to lease the adjacent parking lots as well.[174] Marty Markowitz, who was by then the borough president, endorsed the project,[3][173] saying a live-event venue in the old theater would boost Flatbush's economy.[176] Markowitz obtained $10.75 million for the theater's renovation from the city government's budget for fiscal year 2009.[177]
Renovation

Planning for the renovation began in 2009.[178][179] The government of New York City announced in February 2010 that it had selected the Houston–based ACE Theatrical Group to redevelop the theater for $70 million.[125][126] ACE had previously redeveloped other historic theaters across the United States and converted them into live events venues.[180][2] The city government agreed to provide $50 million, while ACE spent $5 million; the remaining $15 million came from tax credits.[12] The theater's renovation was overseen by a joint venture of the ACE Theatrical Group, Goldman Sachs Urban Investment Group, and National Development Council.[181][179] At the time, ACE planned to host 250 events at the theater annually, including concerts, performances, and ceremonies.[12][182] Martinez & Johnson were hired to design the restoration.[11][12] Before the renovations commenced, workers surveyed the interiors;[12] they reportedly found a naked vagrant on the stage during their surveys.[5][183] The theater had also decayed significantly due to further deterioration of the roof since the late 2000s.[8] One side of the auditorium had been nearly destroyed by water infiltration, there were feral cats and birds, and the theater had been targeted by looters.[8][5]
The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2012,[2][184] allowing the developers to receive a preservation tax credit.[180] The same year, ACE and its partners agreed to lease the theater from the EDC for 55 years.[11][185] Work formally began on January 23, 2013.[179][185][186] By then, the cost had increased to $94 million, of which Goldman Sachs and United Fund Advisors agreed to provide $44 million. The renovation was expected to employ 500 workers, while the theater itself was to have 50 workers after the renovation was finished.[186] Workers began environmental remediation of the site, and they installed a new roof above the Kings Theatre.[184] The theater building was upgraded to meet modern building codes,[184] and new lights were installed.[187] The stage house at the theater's rear was expanded onto East 22nd Street.[11][12] The rake of the auditorium seats was modified to improve sightlines, and the auditorium was downsized to 3,250 seats.[2] Bars were added to the theater,[175] and the basement was enlarged as well.[31][2] ACE spent over $75,000 to restore the original lobby furniture, which the theater's former manager Dorothy Panzica still owned after four decades,[188] and it also hired a Connecticut–based firm to build additional furniture.[189]
The theater's interior spaces were restored to their original appearance.[125][190] EverGreene Architectural Arts was hired to restore the theater's original architectural features.[11][31] Because almost all of the decorations had been stolen or damaged over the years, EverGreene had to reproduce many of the decorations;[31][2] they took dozens of material samples to determine the original colors and interior finishes.[11][191][175] The deteriorating interiors were repaired and cleaned, while the facade and marquee were restored.[2] The chandeliers in the lobbies, which were among the few remaining interior decorations, were rebuilt.[8][18] The restoration process was so complex that scaffolds had to be piled on top of other scaffolds, and the scaffolding costs alone amounted to over $2 million.[11] Restoration work in the auditorium and lobby was nearly complete by late 2014.[192] The renovation ultimately cost $95 million,[181][188] of which more than half came from city and state government sources.[11][181][b]
Reopening
ACE began hiring staff for the theater in late 2014,
After the theater reopened, it hosted performances from musical acts including
Billboard magazine wrote in 2018 that the theater had become a well-known live-event venue in the New York metropolitan area. In addition to music concerts, the theater hosted events catering to Brooklyn's many demographic groups, as well as other events like boxing matches, family shows, and comedy shows.[178] The theater was also used for private events like meetings and graduation ceremonies.[8] The Kings Theatre was temporarily shuttered during 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.[205] ATG again began hosting tours of the Kings Theatre's interior in 2023.[206]
Impact
Critical reception
When the theater opened, the Brooklyn Eagle wrote that "luxury seems to have been the watchword of the designers, and this is emphasized from the front door to the very last seat in the balcony".[80] The Brooklyn Daily Times described the Kings Theatre as "one of the most beautiful theatres anywhere in the Metropolitan city",[81] and The Chat described the theater as "the most gorgeous blending of Old World decorative beauty and modern comfort that film theatre architecture has yet produced".[23] The New York Herald Tribune wrote in 1942 that the construction of movie houses such as the Kings, Paradise, Pitkin, and Valencia theaters "marked a new development in neighborhood entertainment", as these venues were much larger than contemporary neighborhood movie theaters.[207] Crain's New York wrote retrospectively that the theater had been intended to "make the common person feel like royalty",[7] while Vulture said that the theater was a "gaudily secular cathedral of American excess".[183]
A reporter for The New York Times wrote in 1976 that the Kings Theatre was "considered by many to be a classic among movie palaces bristling with ornamentation".[208] After the theater closed, one writer the New York Daily News described it as "mayhap Early Texaco in decor but a seeming Sistine Chapel of class to unemployed showbiz buffs",[209] while another reporter for the same paper described it as the Versailles of movie palaces.[109] A New Yorker article described the Kings Theatre as "perhaps the single most ornate movie house in the country".[124] In 2013, The Wall Street Journal described the Kings as one of several New York City–area movie theaters with "exteriors that loom large".[210]
Media and exhibits
When the theater stopped operating as a movie palace, the director Christian Blackwood produced a documentary called Memoirs of a Movie Palace: Kings of Flatbush,[c] which was released in 1979.[95][209] The documentary includes interviews from several of the theater's longtime employees.[132] By early 1980, two separate groups of filmmakers considered using the Kings Theatre as a filming location for the movie Tribute, and for a film based on Herman Wouk's novel The Winds of War.[211] The abandoned theater was used as a filming location for the movie Sophie's Choice in 1982;[212][213] however, the scene shot at the theater was removed from the film.[213] Scenes from TV series such as So You Think You Can Dance, Gotham, and The Blacklist have also been shot there.[8]
Architectural drawings of the theater's interior were shown in a 1983 exhibit at the Municipal Art Society.[214] After the National Trust for Historic Preservation gave the Municipal Art Society a $1,250 matching grant to fund an exhibit of photographs and artifacts related to the Kings Theatre,[150] the society hosted another exhibit about the theater in 1988.[152][215] In addition, the Museum of the Moving Image hosted an exhibition about the Loew's Kings and other Loew's theaters in 2004.[216] The photographer Matt Lambros took pictures of the theater for his book After the Final Curtain in the early 2010s.[217] Lambros and the Theatre Historical Society of America published a book about the theater, Kings Theater: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of Brooklyn's Wonder Theater, in 2015.[188][218]
See also
References
Notes
- ^ Also spelled "Ann"[17]
- ^ A 2014 New York Times article says that the theater received $55.5 million in public funding, broken down into $20.5 million in mayoral funds, $1.5 million in City Council funds, $30.5 million in borough president funds, and $3 million in state funds. According to the Times, the project also received $39.9 million in private funding, including $21.6 million from Goldman Sachs and $18.3 million from ACE.[2] The New York Daily News wrote that the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York provided a grant for the theater.[193]
- ^ For the film, see Blackwood Productions (January 14, 2022). "Memoirs of a Movie Palace". Internet Archive. Retrieved April 22, 2022.
Citations
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- ^ a b c d e National Park Service 2012, p. 3.
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