Shea's Buffalo
Front of Theatre
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| Former names | Shea's Buffalo |
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| Address | 646 Main St. Buffalo, New York United States |
| Owner | City of Buffalo |
| Operator | Shea's O'Connell Preservation Guild Ltd. |
| Type | Movie Theater |
| Capacity | 3,019 |
| Current use | Performing Arts Center |
| Opened | 1926 |
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Shea's Buffalo Theatre
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| Coordinates | 42°53′29″N 78°52′25″W / 42.89139°N 78.87361°WCoordinates: 42°53′29″N 78°52′25″W / 42.89139°N 78.87361°W |
| Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | C.W. Rapp; George Rapp |
| NRHP Reference # | 75001186 |
| Added to NRHP | May 6, 1975 |
Shea's Performing Arts Center (originally Shea's Buffalo) is a theater for touring Broadway musicals and special events in Buffalo, New York. Originally called Shea's Buffalo, it was opened in 1926 to show silent movies. It took one year to build the entire theatre. Shea's boasts one of the few theater organs in the US that is still in operation in the theater for which it was designed.
Shea's Buffalo, flagship of the theater chain, was designed by the noted firm of Rapp and Rapp of Chicago. Modeled in a combination of Spanish and French Baroque and Rococo styles, the theatre was designed to resemble opera houses and palaces of Europe of the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally the seating accommodated nearly 4,000 people, but several hundred seats were removed in the 1930s to make more comfortable accommodations in the orchestra area; there are now 3,019 seats at Shea's. The interior was designed by world-renowned designer/artist Louis Comfort Tiffany with most of the elements still in place today. Many of the furnishings and fixtures were supplied by Marshall Field in Chicago, and included immense Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers of the finest quality. The interior contained over 1-acre (4,000 m2) of seating. The cost of construction and outfitting of the theater in 1926 was just over $1,900,000. This was at a time when a new house could be purchased for $3,000 and a new Model A Ford was $1,000. The theater opened January 16, 1926 with the film King of Main Street, starring Adolphe Menjou. When Michael Shea retired in 1930, Shea's interests were headed by V. R. McFaul, who owned and managed several dozen Shea's Theaters in the metro Buffalo area until his death in 1955. Loew's Theatres took over the chain's interests in 1948.
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