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Paradise Theater (Bronx)

1920s architecture in the United States1929 establishments in New York CityBoxing venues in New York CityCulture of the BronxFormer cinemas and movie theaters in New York City
Loew's Theatres buildings and structuresMovie palacesMusic venues in the BronxNew York City Designated Landmarks in the BronxNew York City interior landmarksSports venues in the BronxTheatres completed in 1929Theatres in the BronxUse American English from June 2023Use mdy dates from December 2024
Loews Paradise GC jeh
Loews Paradise GC jeh

The Paradise Theater (formerly the Loew's Paradise Theatre) is a theater at 2403 Grand Concourse in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, United States. Designed by John Eberson as a movie palace, it opened on September 7, 1929, as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. Although the building is no longer in use as a movie theater, its facade and interior are preserved as New York City designated landmarks. The Paradise Theater is composed of a lobby wing and a retail wing facing the Grand Concourse to the east, as well as an auditorium wing facing Creston Avenue to the west. The theater has an ornate terracotta facade on the Grand Concourse, with a multicolored Baroque–style frontispiece. The main facade originally also included a mechanical Seth Thomas clock and a sculpture of Saint George fighting a fire-breathing dragon. The other facades are simpler and made of brick. There are an outer lobby, foyer, and main lobby on the ground level, which are decorated with murals and sculptures. On the second story are a promenade, lounges, and balcony lobbies. The auditorium has 3,855 seats on two levels, with an elaborately decorated proscenium arch, walls, and ceilings. Like the other Wonder Theatres, the Paradise Theater featured a "Wonder Morton" theater pipe organ manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company, though the organ has since been removed. A subsidiary of Paramount-Publix first acquired land for the theater in 1925, and Loew's Theatres took over the site in 1927. The Paradise Theater originally presented films and live shows. but the live shows were discontinued within five years of the theater's opening. The theater slowly declined after World War II, and the auditorium was subdivided three times in the 1970s and 1980s, becoming a multiplex with four screening rooms. The Paradise Theater closed in 1994 and was shuttered for over a decade. Following an unsuccessful renovation attempt led by Richard P. DeCesare, the theater was sold in 2003 to Gerald Lieblich, who completed the renovation. The theater reopened in 2005 as an event venue, and it was sold twice in the next four years. The Paradise was then leased in 2012 to the World Changers Church International New York, a local congregation, which vacated it in 2020.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Paradise Theater (Bronx) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Paradise Theater (Bronx)
Creston Avenue, New York The Bronx (Bronx County)

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Latitude Longitude
N 40.860556 ° E -73.898889 °
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Loews Paradise Theater

Creston Avenue
10468 New York, The Bronx (Bronx County)
New York, United States
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Loews Paradise GC jeh
Loews Paradise GC jeh
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Dollar Savings Bank Building
Dollar Savings Bank Building

The Dollar Savings Bank Building is a former bank building at 2516–2530 Grand Concourse in the Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City, New York, U.S. Constructed for the defunct Dollar Savings Bank in three phases between 1932 and 1952, it was designed by Adolf L. Muller, an associate with Halsey, McCormack & Helmer. The building uses motifs designed in the Art Deco style, with influences from classical architecture. The building's facade and interior are New York City designated landmarks, and the building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building consists of a 1-to-4-story banking wing to the south and a 10-story office wing to the north. The banking wing has a granite facade measuring 150 feet (46 m) wide along Grand Concourse, with entrance pavilions to the north and south, flanking large windows in the center. The office wing is clad with granite on its lower stories, with two additional entrances, while the upper stories are clad with brick and architectural terracotta. The northwest corner of the office wing has a clock tower with four faces, protruding above the roof. Inside the banking-hall wing is a double-height column-free space with classical decorations and five murals about the Bronx. The basement has a safe-deposit lobby and was built with offices, storage, and steel vaults. The office wing contains a banking annex, a lobby, and office spaces. The site was originally part of the estate of John Valentine and acquired by the Dollar Savings Bank in 1932. The first part of the banking hall opened in 1933, and it was expanded northward between 1937 and 1938. Further growth in the bank's business prompted another expansion from 1949 to 1952. The building was acquired by the Dollar Dry Dock Savings Bank in 1983, then the Emigrant Savings Bank in 1992. The two portions of the building came under different ownership in the late 20th and early 21st centuries; the banking hall continued to host a bank, while the office wing housed a social-service agency. In 2013, Ivan Diaz bought both portions. The bank closed in 2014, and the building was redeveloped into a supermarket and dormitory in the 2020s.