One of famed theater architect Thomas W. Lamb's oldest existing buildings sits modestly and quite unnoticed these days on Amsterdam Avenue, between West 149th and 150th Streets. The Washington Theatre, as it was named in 1910 (top photo), stayed open for forty years until its final days as a movie house somewhere in the 1950's. Today, the ornate, patriotic awning is gone, and new doors have been placed on the exterior of what is now known as the New Covenant Temple. Apparently, the 1432-seat theater's interior is substantially intact, but we could only locate the older photo at the bottom by which to reference it. To get to this northern reach of Hamilton Heights, take the 1 train or the A,B,C,D to 145th Street and head a few blocks north towards Amsterdam. The top photo was taken by turn of the century New York documentary photographer
Joseph Byron at the Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
One of famed theater architect Thomas W. Lamb's oldest existing buildings sits modestly and quite unnoticed these days on Amsterdam Avenue, between West 149th and 150th Streets. The Washington Theatre, as it was named in 1910 (top photo), stayed open for forty years until its final days as a movie house somewhere in the 1950's. Today, the ornate, patriotic awning is gone, and new doors have been placed on the exterior of what is now known as the New Covenant Temple. Apparently, the 1432-seat theater's interior is substantially intact, but we could only locate the older photo at the bottom by which to reference it. To get to this northern reach of Hamilton Heights, take the 1 train or the A,B,C,D to 145th Street and head a few blocks north towards Amsterdam. The top photo was taken by turn of the century New York documentary photographer Joseph Byron at the Collection of the Museum of the City of New York.
save this theatre! what can we do?
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