Warner Theatre (1931)

Described as “Connecticut’s Most Beautiful Theatre” when it opened in 1931, the Warner Theatre in Torrington was a movie palace built by Warner Brothers Studios. It was designed by Thomas W Lamb, an architect who specialized in designing theaters. Sold by Warner Brothers in the 1950s, the Warner suffered from damage in the 1955 Flood and years of neglect. Faced with demolition in 1982, a concerned group of citizens formed the non-profit Northwest Connecticut Association for the Arts to raise money and save the theatre. Like the Garde Theatre in New London, the Warner Theatre has been restored as a performing arts center.

Garde Arts Center (1926)

This weekend we’ll be looking at three surviving Connecticut movie palaces, now restored as theatres. First up is the Garde Theatre in New London, which opened in 1926. It was one of six new movie palaces being built at the time in Connecticut and Massachusetts by Arthur Friend, a New York movie studio attorney and early partner of Cecil B. DeMille, and was nemed for Walter Garde, a pominent businessman. The Art Deco building, the work of architect Arland Johnson, featured a lavish Moorish and Egyptian Revival interior, typical of the movie palaces of the time that sought to create an exotic atmosphere. The Garde‘s early Vaudeville performances were eventually completely supplanted by motion pictures and the theater was owned by Warner Brothers from 1929 to 1978. Since 1985, the building has been the Garde Arts Center and has been extensively restored and and adapted as a theatre for the performing arts.

Avery Memorial Building, Wadsworth Atheneum (1934)

The Wadsworth Atheneum art museum in Hartford consists of four connected structures. Three of them can be seen, lined up adjacent to each other, on Main Street: the original Atheneum building (1844), the Colt Memorial Building (1906) and the Morgan Memorial Building (1910). The fourth section, the Avery Memorial Building, is on Atheneum Square and Prospect Street, behind the 1844 building. Samuel P. Avery left his art collection and funds to construct a building to house it. The Avery Memorial, built in 1934, was designed by the firm of Morris & O’Connor to have a minimum of decorative ornament. The interior has the earliest International Style interior of any museum in America.

William R. Cotter Federal Building (1932)

Adjacent to the Foot Guard Armory, on High Street in Hartford, is the William R. Cotter Federal Building, built in 1931-1932. Part of the federal government’s Depression-era construction program, the Federal Building once housed the post office and federal courthouse. The courts (in 1962) and post office (in 1977) moved elsewhere and the building now houses various federal offices. In 1982, the building was renamed to honor Congressman William R. Cotter, who represented the First District of Connecticut from 1971 until his death in 1981. The Art Deco and Neoclassical building (pdf), designed by Malmfeldt, Adams & Prentice, is constructed of Indiana limestone and Wisconsin black granite and has two aluminum eagles on the roof.

Olympia Diner (1950)

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This month’s issue of Connecticut Explored (the magazine formerly known as the Hog River Journal) has an article on the architecture of the Berlin Turnpike, written by Mary M. Donohue. According to the article, the Olympia Diner, on the Turnpike in in Newington, was built around 1950. It was one of many diners made by the Jerry O’Mahoney Company in the 1950s. Diners of the period retained many aspects of the earlier art deco style. The Olympia Diner continues to operate as a popular restaurant and historic landmark.