Metrograph
7 Ludlow Street | Chinatown | built 1958
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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.
- 2015
Alexander Olch plans a two-screen cinema in a Ludlow Street warehouse behind the Loew's Canal Street
In August 2015 Alexander Olch, an Orchard Street boutique owner and filmmaker, announced a two-screen art-house cinema in a 5,400-square-foot Ludlow Street warehouse beside a Chinese funeral home. Its rear wall abuts the long-empty Loew's Canal Street theater. Margulies Hoelzli Architecture designed a 175-seat auditorium with a balcony and a 50-seat one, along with a restaurant, bookstore and cafe.
Source: deadline.com
- 2015
Community Board 3 sets noise conditions that Metrograph accepts to win a liquor license
Before opening, Metrograph needed a liquor license for the bars and restaurant planned for 7 Ludlow Street. According to amNY, in October 2015 Community Board 3 attached stipulations that were mostly about reducing noise, and Metrograph agreed to follow them to obtain the license. The building was to include two bars, a restaurant called The Commissary and a bookstore, on a block amNY described as having a funeral home and a plumbing supplies store.
Source: amny.com
- 2016
Metrograph announces its first slate, led by a series of films about going to the movies
On January 20, 2016, The Film Stage reported the first program planned for 7 Ludlow Street by artistic and programming director Jacob Perlin. It began with a March 4-10 series of films about moviegoing, among them Taxi Driver and Vivre sa Vie, then ran Jean Eustache films and a Fassbinder top-ten list on 35mm. A year-long alphabetical series with one film per director, starting with The Age of Innocence and Barry Lyndon, opened in mid-March.
Source: thefilmstage.com
- 2016
Metrograph's two rooms seat 175 and 47, with red velvet and wood from the Domino Sugar Refinery
In a February 2016 preview, amNY described 7 Ludlow Street as a former food storage warehouse near Canal Street. The larger of the two screening rooms has 175 seats, 25 of them on a balcony, and the smaller one has 47. The seats are red velvet, and the wood was refurbished from the Domino Sugar Refinery in Williamsburg.
Source: amny.com
- 2016
Alexander Olch opens the Metrograph movie theater
Alexander Olch, a filmmaker and men's tie designer, opened Metrograph to the public on March 4, 2016, in a refurbished two-story warehouse. Two theaters and a bar sat downstairs, with another bar, a restaurant, and a film bookstore on the second floor. Jacob Perlin and Aliza Ma, both film producers and writers, programmed the first films shown.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2019
Metrograph announces a distribution company, Metrograph Pictures
In 2019 Metrograph announced Metrograph Pictures, a distribution company for modern and classic films. The company has distributed restorations such as Duet for Cannibals, from 1969, and Goodbye, Dragon Inn, from 2003. In February 2024 David Laub joined to expand it by acquiring more films, and in July 2025 it was reported to be quietly dissolving.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2020
Metrograph launches a streaming service while its Ludlow Street doors are shut
After closing its building on March 15, 2020, Metrograph launched its own online service on July 24 that year. Called Metrograph Digital at first and later Metrograph At Home, it offers members a curated set of films that had played in the theater plus new releases, for a monthly fee.
“…on July 24, 2020, Metrograph launched their own online streaming service, available with a monthly membership subscription, initially called "Metrograph Digital…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2020
Metrograph closes for the pandemic and later reopens
The theater shut its doors on March 15, 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and did not reopen to the public until October 1, 2021. During the closure, in July 2020, it launched an online streaming service, initially called Metrograph Digital and later renamed Metrograph at Home.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2023
Metrograph names Inge de Leeuw its director of programming
On March 15, 2023 the theater announced Inge de Leeuw as its new director of programming. The announcement promised an approach to the repertory-focused schedule that was eclectic, interdisciplinary and well-rounded. The theater had been programmed at its 2016 launch by producers Jacob Perlin and Aliza Ma.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
Metrograph runs an Olivier Assayas retrospective and shows his new film Suspended Time
In 2025 Metrograph ran a retrospective of Olivier Assayas's films and also showed his new Suspended Time as a first-run release, which The Believer's Chris Molnar noted is fairly unusual for the theater. Molnar described the building as a plain brick box turned into a multipurpose space, with a restaurant, a bar, a small bookstore and faux-vintage seats.
Source: thebeliever.net
Further reading
- MetrographWikipedia
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