Capitol Theater (Port Chester, New York)
Capitol Theatre, September 2016
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| Address | 149 Westchester Avenue |
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| Location | Port Chester, New York |
| Owner | Peter Shapiro |
| Type | movie palace |
| Capacity | 1,800 |
| Opened | 1926 |
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Capitol Theatre
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| Location | 147-151 Westchester Ave., Port Chester, New York |
| Coordinates | 41°0′6″N 73°39′56″W / 41.00167°N 73.66556°WCoordinates: 41°0′6″N 73°39′56″W / 41.00167°N 73.66556°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Architect | Thomas W. Lamb |
| NRHP Reference # | 84003426 |
| Added to NRHP | June 7, 1984 |
The Capitol Theatre is a historic theatre located in the village of Port Chester, Westchester County, New York. It was designed by noted theater architect Thomas W. Lamb (1871 - 1942) and built in 1926. The 1,800-seat facility operates as a concert venue, hosting musicians and occasionally comedians, as owned and operated by NYC-based concert promoter Peter Shapiro. The Capitol Theatre has had a long history, with tenures as a movie theater and catering hall, in addition to hosting concerts.
It consists of two parts: a three-story section containing three storefronts, the theater entrance, two stories of office space; and the theater auditorium. The front section is nine bays wide and four bays deep with a truncated hipped roof. It features a decorative terra cotta cornice. The theater structure is irregular in shape and ranges from four to seven stories in height.
The Capitol Theatre was built for Vaudeville and Cinema and continued as a movie theater until 1970. Its opening night in 1926 sold out all 2,000 seats and had to turn hundreds away.
In the 1970s, the theatre was renovated for use as a performance space. The Capitol was utilized as a concert space throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and featured performances by such acts as Pink Floyd,Johnnie Winter Rick Derringer The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, and Traffic. The Grateful Dead played 13 dates at the Capitol Theatre in a one-year span from 1970-1971. American Songwriter notes that "Many fans think those shows were some of the best the band ever played."Janis Joplin debuted her song Mercedes Benz at the theater, to the surprise of her band, after writing it at a bar nearby. In 1984, the Capitol Theatre was added to the National Register of Historic Places. In the 1980s, the frequency of live events at the theatre diminished, partially due to a village curfew for live music after 1:00 am. The Capitol would host off-Broadway plays and musicals, and events run by the Port Chester Council of the Arts. The 1990s would see some live music again, with the likes of Phish, Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors and Strangefolk. Both David Bowie and the Rolling Stones performed at the Capitol in 1997, as part of episodes of the MTV television program Live From The 10 Spot.
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