United Palace
4140 Broadway | also 651 West 175th Street, 650 West 176th Street, 40 Wadsworth Avenue | Washington Heights | built 1930
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1928
A Loew's officer assembles the whole Washington Heights block from more than a dozen owners
Starting in 1924, Len Cohen, an officer of Loew's Inc., bought up parcels on the block framed by Broadway and Wadsworth Avenue between West 175th and 176th Streets. It was among the last big undeveloped sites along Broadway in that part of town. Over three years he combined the block from more than a dozen different owners, spending several hundred thousand dollars. In February 1928 he conveyed it to Highbridge Realty, headed by Loew's president Nicholas Schenck, and Thomas Lamb filed plans a month later.
“Cohen assembled the entire block from more than a dozen separate owners at a cost of several hundred thousand dollars…”
- 1930
Loew's 175th Street Theatre opens as a lavish movie palace
Designed by Thomas W. Lamb and built for $3 million, Loew's 175th Street Theatre opened on February 22, 1930, filling the block between Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue and 175th and 176th Streets. Its roughly 3,350-seat interior mixes motifs from Egyptian, Islamic, Mayan, Asian and other traditions.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1939
Judy Garland's fans overwhelm police and make off with her hat
Movie stars made appearances at the Loew's 175th Street Theatre in the 1930s and 1940s. Eleanor Powell came to promote Rosalie in 1938. In 1939 Judy Garland's fans grew so frenzied that the crowd slipped beyond the control of police, and they took her hat. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans appeared in 1945.
“Judy Garland, whose frenzied fans "got beyond even police control" and stole her hat during a 1939 appearance…”
- 1960
Loew's installs an automatic box office billed as the first of its kind in a movie theater
As the economics of running big city movie houses worsened, Loew's tried several ways to keep the 175th Street Theatre going without the support of a major studio. In 1960 it installed Vendaticket, billed as the first automated box office in any movie theater. That device and a closed-circuit football game in 1964 were among the efforts that could not offset the cost of operating such a large, elaborate building.
- 1964
Joan Crawford visits to promote her horror film Strait-Jacket
Joan Crawford came to the Loew's 175th Street Theatre in 1964 to promote Strait-Jacket, her horror film. That year the theater also carried a professional football game by closed-circuit broadcast, part of Loew's effort to keep the huge house profitable. The stage had hosted bandleader Tito Puente a dozen years earlier, in 1952.
“…in 1964, Joan Crawford appeared there to promote her horror film Strait-Jacket…”
- 1969
Televangelist Reverend Ike buys the theater for his church
After four decades as a movie house, the theater was bought in 1969 by the televangelist Reverend Ike for $600,000. He made it the headquarters of his United Church, Science of Living Institute, and renamed it the United Palace. The city designated its exterior a landmark on December 13, 2016, and in 2023 it hosted the 76th Tony Awards.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1970
A 1970 landmark hearing draws an owner's objection and 22 letters of support
The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on February 3, 1970, about designating the Loew's 175th Street Theatre, a year after Reverend Ike's group bought it. A representative of the owner spoke against, and no one spoke in favor, but the Commission received 22 letters supporting designation, including ones from theater historian Ben M. Hall, Columbia professor James Marston Fitch for the Municipal Art Society, and the Brooklyn Academy of Music's general manager. Protection did not come until 2016.
- 1973
Reverend Ike's Joy of Living becomes the first television program hosted by an African-American religious leader
By the 1970s Reverend Ike's congregation at the United Palace was among the largest in the country. His television program The Joy of Living, launched in 1973 and often shot on the United Palace stage, made him the first African-American religious leader to host his own show. By 1975 his radio message ran on more than 1,700 stations, and videotaped sermons aired in ten major television markets.
- 2007
Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic in The Rite of Spring danced by public school students
In 2007 Sir Simon Rattle appeared at the United Palace to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in Stravinsky's ballet The Rite of Spring. The dancers were public school students, with choreography by Royston Maldoom. That year the theater also began booking indie music shows, hosting ten sold-out performances in six weeks from March.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2013
A crowdfunded screen brings movies back to the United Palace
Film presentations came back to the United Palace in 2013, paid for by a crowdfunding drive that bought a new screen and projection equipment. Washington Heights native and Broadway star Lin-Manuel Miranda was a major supporter and gave $100,000 toward the campaign. Classic films shown in recent years include The Phantom of the Opera and Steamboat Bill Jr., both with live organ accompaniment, and a full restoration of the original Wonder Morton organ began in 2016.
“…film presentations returned to the United Palace in 2013…”
- 2016
The city designates the United Palace's exterior a landmark
New York City's Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the exterior of the former Loew's 175th Street Theatre on December 13, 2016. The protection comes decades after Reverend Ike's congregation took over the movie palace, preserving Thomas Lamb's ornate 1930 facade even as the building keeps evolving as a performance venue.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2021
"In the Heights" has its world premiere at the United Palace
The 20th Tribeca Festival opened on June 9, 2021, with the world premiere of Jon M. Chu's film of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical In the Heights, shown at the United Palace in the neighborhood where the story is set. Miranda called the film a love letter to the Dominican and Latino community of Washington Heights; it was screened the same night in all five boroughs.
Source: tribecafilm.com
- 2023
The United Palace hosts the 76th Tony Awards
Broadway's Tony Awards ceremony moves uptown to the United Palace on June 11, 2023, the first time the theater hosts the event. The booking caps a period of renovation and revival for the 1930 movie palace, now run as a nonprofit arts and cultural center.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- United PalaceWikipedia
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