- Cutler Majestic Theatre
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The Cutler Majestic Theatre
Theatre lobby, 2009Address 219 Tremont Street City Boston, Massachusetts Country United States Designation National Register of Historic Places Architect John Galen Howard Owned by Emerson College Capacity Approximately 1,200 Opened 1903[1] Previous names Saxon Theatre The Cutler Majestic Theatre at Emerson College, in Boston, Massachusetts, is a 1903 "Beaux Arts" style theater, designed by the architect John Galen Howard.[2] Originally built for theatre, one of three theaters commissioned in Boston by Eben Dyer Jordan, son of the founder of Jordan Marsh, a Boston-based chain of department stores. The Majestic was converted to accommodate vaudeville shows in the 1920s and eventually into a movie house in the 1950s. The change to film came with renovations that transformed the lobby and covered up much of John Galen Howard's original Beaux-Arts architecture.
The theater continued to show movies until 1983 as the Saxon Theatre. By then, the theater began to deteriorate both in appearance and in programming.
In the mid-1980s Emerson College purchased the theater and restored it to its original Beaux-Arts appearance.[3] The theater today is a performing arts center for both Emerson College and the community at large. It is the home base of Opera Boston as well as frequently staging shows by New England Conservatory, Teatro Lirico D'Europa, Celebrity Series of Boston, Emerson College's Emerson Stage company and the Boston Gay Men's Chorus. The theater has again been renamed, the Cutler Majestic Theatre, after donors Ted and Joan Benard-Cutler.
It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Massachusetts Register of Historic Places, and is a "Boston Historic Landmark". The theatre is located at 219 Tremont Street in Boston's theater district. It seats just under 1,200 people.
Footnotes
- ^ Boston Globe article, "Plays and Players, Majestic Theatre to be Opened Tomorrow Night with "The Storks", February 15, 1903
- ^ Boston Globe article, "The Majestic, Boston's New Theatre", February 15, 1903, pg. 44
- ^ Boston Globe article, "Emerson College Buys Saxon from Sack", by Michael Blowen, March 25, 1983, pg. 1
External links
Coordinates: 42°21′05.76″N 71°03′54.36″W / 42.3516°N 71.0651°W
Categories:- 1903 architecture
- 1903 establishments in the United States
- Theatres in Boston, Massachusetts
- Emerson College
- University and college theatres in the United States
- Boston Theatre District
- John Galen Howard buildings
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