Watson JessicaThe Palace Theater is a 2,900-seat auditorium at 100 East Main Street in downtown Waterbury, Connecticut. The theater currently presents a variety of live entertainment, hosting traveling productions and locally produced events. It was built in 1921 and designed by Thomas W. Lamb in the Renaissance Revival style and is an architecturally prominent element of downtown. It underwent a major restoration in the early 21st century and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Architecture
The Palace Theater is located in downtown Waterbury, on the south side of East Main Street, just east of the town green. It occupies about 125 feet (38 m) of street frontage with a row of small ground-floor storefronts to the right of the theater entrance. The entrance is protected by a large canopy projecting over the sidewalk. The upper levels of the four-story building are divided into eight bays, with the center six having the most elaborate treatment. The second story has bands of three windows in each of these bays and is separated from the upper two stories by a cornice. The upper bays have two-story round-arched windows framed by round columns and separated from each other by Corinthian pilasters. A frieze band and cornice crown the building. The interior lobbies and auditoriums are richly decorated.
History
The theater was built in 1922 and designed by Thomas W. Lamb, one of the leading theater designers of the time. When it opened, it was recognized as the best performance venue in the city, hosting traveling vaudeville shows and the latest movies. It was part of the business empire of Sylvester Z. Poly, who controlled as many as thirty theaters, mostly in the northeastern United States. Only two of Poly’s theaters have survived in some form, and this one is exceptionally well preserved. The theater closed in 1987 and stood for eighteen years. The Tomasso Group undertook a $30 million restoration and reopened it in 2004.