Proctor's Theater
Proctor's Theater is a former movie theater and theater on Fourth Street (north facing US 4 ) in Troy , New York . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and has been a contributing property of the Central Troy Historic District since 1986 .
The movie theater was built in 1914 for vaudeville performances by entrepreneur Frederick F. Proctor from the New York capital region. He also had a theater built in Schenectady under his name. The hall with two balconies enabled the adjustments necessary to show movies when this form of entertainment became fashionable shortly after the building was completed.
The theater closed in the late 1970s. Since then it has been owned by several owners, most recently the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), who had various plans for re-use, including re-use as a theater or conversion into office space. None of these have been implemented and the building remains unused.
building
The theater is part of a series of buildings on the east side of Fourth Street. It has five floors and the front facade is heavily decorated , with brick alternating with marble and terracotta . Downstairs rise rusticated columns up to a lion's head. Five connected columns made of marble frame the upper floors and rise to gargoyle- like figures and two towers above the eaves close off the building at both ends of the facade.
The interior of the building has suffered from years of neglect, but the floor plan is unchanged. The tiled entrance hall with arched ceilings and paneled walls leads to a staircase that leads to the balconies and into the foyer with access to the auditorium of the theater on orchestra level. Gold leaf once adorned the arches in this area. At the center of the proscenium is a picture by David Lithgow depicting Lafayette's visit to Troy in 1824. All of these inventory items have remained unchanged since the theater was built.
history
Proctor, who had previously built and successfully operated vaudeville theaters in Albany and New York City , commissioned Arlard Johnson to design the theater and was hoping for the largest project since he had come into business three decades earlier. The construction cost 325,000 US dollars (1914) and was opened as a theater in 1914, it was the largest building of its kind in New York and was praised as a building that "at vorderster place in American theater circles ranks".
From its inception, Proctor recognized the potential that cinema would have and began to adapt his theaters to this new medium. The shape of the classic double balconies was well suited for the film showing, as it gave the audience a good view of the stage everywhere in the hall. The theater was not prepared for the screening of the film from the start, as there was no chamber for the film projector and the screen was missing, but both were added in the 1920s. During that period, as was common in many theaters at the time, performances comprised both live performances and cinematic entertainment. When the sound film emerged in the 1930s , making live performances superfluous, the central chandeliers were removed and, along with other renovations, the paintings in the lobby also disappeared.
After Proctor's death in 1929, the theater continued to operate and was a popular destination for entertainment seekers. After the middle of the 20th century, the number of visitors declined, on the one hand due to the advent of television and on the other hand due to urbanization . The facility was finally closed in 1977, with only forty people watching the last performance. A year later, the city acquired the property as part of a foreclosure from the then owners. It is the only surviving cinema theater in Troy, but has not been used for this purpose since.
Remarks
- ^ Rensselaer Announces Purchase of Proctor's Theater Building in Downtown Troy ( English ) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute . April 6, 2004. Archived from the original on August 14, 2007. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 14, 2008: " The goal is to develop a high-end hotel that will provide economic and community benefits to the city of Troy and to the surrounding area "
- ^ A b c Robert Powers: National Register of Historic Places nomination, Proctor's Theater . New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation . May 1979. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
Coordinates: 42 ° 43 ′ 50 " N , 73 ° 41 ′ 20" W.