Meserole Theatre

990 Lorimer Street | also 723 Manhattan Avenue, 1000 Lorimer Street | Greenpoint | built 1931

Open on the map6 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1905

    Photographer Ralph Irving Lloyd records the Meserole family house on the future theater's lot

    Around 1905 the amateur photographer Ralph Irving Lloyd, who mostly photographed cats and old Brooklyn buildings, took a picture of the large wood-frame house of Adrian and Mary Meserole on Lorimer Street, on the lot where the Meserole Theatre later stood. The Brooklyn Public Library notes that Greenpoint had become a land of industry and immigrants by then, leaving the house and its spacious yard as a relic. Mary Meserole died in 1907 and Adrian in 1913.

    Source: bklynlibrary.org

  2. 1917

    The Young Women's Hebrew Association buys the old Meserole house for a clubhouse

    In 1917 the local Young Women's Hebrew Association bought the Meserole family's old house on the site of the later theater, for use as a clubhouse. The Brooklyn Public Library suggests the big building was probably in poor repair. Two years later the association found a new home at Norman Avenue and Leonard Street, and the old house was torn down to make way for a theater.

    Source: bklynlibrary.org

  3. 1921

    The 2,000-seat Meserole Theater opens, designed by Eugene DeRosa for impresario Sol Brill

    Brownstoner reports that the Meserole Theater opened in 1921 with seating for two thousand, built for the theater and amusement park operator Sol Brill and designed by Eugene DeRosa. The frontage on Manhattan Avenue is only 25 feet wide, but the lobby leads back to a large auditorium that faces Lorimer Street. Inside, the Georgian-style plaster ceiling had a central dome with a large chandelier.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  4. 1927

    The Meserole Theater runs a food drive for 700 needy Greenpoint families

    Brownstoner describes the Meserole Theater as a vital part of Greenpoint life that hosted community events, including several charity events. In 1927 it ran a food drive that gathered baskets of food for 700 needy families in the neighborhood. Decades later, in the 1950s, the theater also sponsored free movie parties for 2,000 local children.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  5. 1979

    The closed Meserole becomes the Greenpoint Roller Palace, with a mirror ball under the dome

    According to Brownstoner the theater shut down in 1978, and in 1979 it was turned into a skating venue named the Greenpoint Roller Palace. A mirror ball took the place of the chandelier under the domed ceiling. The roller disco ran through at least 1986, after which the building changed hands and the space was leased to the drugstore chain now known as Rite Aid.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  6. 2010

    The Rite Aid building goes on the market, with talk of bringing a movie theater back

    In November 2010 the Brooklyn Paper reported that the owner had put the former Meserole Theater building up for sale. The Rite Aid there had been in place for 20 years, and the original disco ball still hung from a dome in the ceiling. Broker Geoffrey Bailey of TerraCRG said he would never try to pigeon-hole a property, and the paper floated a Brooklyn branch of an art-house cinema such as the Angelika as one possibility.

    Source: brooklynpaper.com

Nearby

All 63 buildings with stories in Greenpoint