The United Palace in Washington Heights, eight miles north of Times Square, is a dazzling relic of a golden age of cinema. On Sunday, it’s the setting for Broadway’s biggest night.
Located on Broadway between 175th and 176th Streets, this former Loew’s Wonder Theater is seductive, if mysterious. The distinctive exterior – where pigeons make their home between terracotta ziggurats and pilasters – is said to have been influenced by Egyptian, Aztec or Mayan design, or perhaps the architecture of the 16th- to 18th-century Mughal Empire.
Inside, almost every surface is gold and shiny – an abundance of dazzling details. Twin elephants carry new post lamps on the stairs. Seahorses mingle with peacocks in the light fixtures.
In the 3,400-seat auditorium designed by renowned theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, bodhisattvas smile serenely in their niches, while griffins, centaurs, buraqs (horses with human heads from Islamic mythology), grim lions, long-necked birds, and strangely muscular swirling tendrils, acanthus leaves and rosettes are cherubs.
It is a building that causes great confusion among architecture critics. In “On Broadway: A Journey Uptown Over Time,” David W. Dunlap, a former New York Times reporter and columnist, described the interior as “Byzantine-Romanesque-Indo-Hindu-Sino-Moorish-Persian-Eclectic-Rococo- Decor.”
In other words, it’s a lot.
With the Tony Awards, United Palace of Cultural Arts CEO Michael Fitelson is eager to welcome a new audience.
“Ten years ago the people of Broadway said it would never work, it’s too far out,” he said. “Over time, the nos became less and less.”
Loew’s 175th Street Theater opened in 1930, the last of five Wonder Theaters the chain built in and around New York City. Opening day festivities include a screening of “Their Own Desire,” starring Norma Shearer; a performance by the Chester Hale Girls dance troupe; and a recital on the two-chamber Wonder Organ.
Not everyone was a fan of these exuberantly designed movie palaces. One reviewer lamented, “Americans visiting the great sites of antiquity will be heard saying, ‘So this is the Taj Mahal; pshaw … the Oriental Theater at home is twice the size and also has electric lighting.’”
They weren’t meant to be subtle. In the 1961 book The Best Remaining Seats, theater historian Ben Hall described movie palaces as “dream worlds for the disillusioned.” They were exotic fantasy lands, intended to stimulate the public’s imagination and invite them to lose themselves.
(Sometimes they lost more than themselves. An enthusiastic fan tipped Judy Garland’s hat when she showed up there in 1939. She offered $10 and an autograph for the return, to no avail.)
Harold Rambusch, who decorated the interior of Lamb’s building, called movie palaces “social safety valves,” a way for the public to “participate in the same luxuries as the wealthy and use them to the same extent.” (Rambusch also designed the more restrained interiors of Radio City Music Hall, which seats about 6,000 and has often hosted the Tony Awards.)
With the rise of television and other factors, the appeal of the dream world had somewhat faded by the middle of the century. In 1969 – after a final screening of “2001: A Space Odyssey” – the building was purchased by televangelist Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter, known as Reverend Ike, who preached his prosperity theology on stage.
Under Rev. Ike, the building became known as the United Palace and was kept in sparkling condition. But relatively few in the largely Dominican community had any connection with the goings-on inside. A sign outside said, “Come in or smile as you pass by.”
In the 2000s, the United Palace began a new life. After Reverend Ike’s death in 2009, his son, Xavier Eikerenkoetter, steered the venue in a more art-oriented direction and founded the United Palace of Cultural Arts.
Lin-Manuel Miranda first entered the theater in 2013, before it was set to host a five-year anniversary concert of his first Broadway musical, “In the Heights.” Despite growing up in the area, he knew nothing about it.
“I couldn’t believe this huge, beautiful architectural marvel was in the heart of Washington Heights,” Miranda wrote in an email.
Miranda was instrumental in bringing movies back to the United Palace, buying a new screen, while a crowdfunding campaign helped pay for a new HD projector.
The United Palace’s film screenings – most recently “When Harry Met Sally” in May – have drawn crowds to Upper Manhattan.
Fitelson is excited to see the neighborhood Latino community get some time in the spotlight. “To bring the Tonys to this community is a huge statement that they’re interested in opening their doors to a wider audience,” Fitelson said. “And that this community is interested in hosting things that have a citywide, national, global impact.”
Miranda especially hopes that the United Palace can continue to be a meeting place for residents of Washington Heights.
“This is our community’s theater and we are so proud to be a part of it.”