United Palace Theater
| Loew's 175th Street Theatre | |
 |
|
| Address | 4140 Broadway between West 175th and West 176th Streets Washington Heights, Manhattan New York City |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°50′47″N 73°56′17″W / 40.846412°N 73.938193°WCoordinates: 40°50′47″N 73°56′17″W / 40.846412°N 73.938193°W |
| Owner | United Christian Evangelistic Association |
| Capacity |
1930: 3,444 or 3,661; 2007: 3,293 |
| Current use | church; live music venue |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1930 |
| Architect | Thomas W. Lamb |
| Website | |
| http://www.unitedpalace.org | |
The United Palace is a church, live music venue, and non-profit cultural center located at 4140 Broadway between West 175th and 176th Streets in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Built in 1930 as Loew's 175th Street Theatre, the venue was originally a movie palace designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb. It was one of five deluxe "Wonder Theatres" that Loew's built in the New York City area. Its lavishly eclectic interior decor was supervised by Harold Rambusch. The theater originally presented films and live vaudeville and operated continuously until closed by Loew's in 1969. That same year it was purchased for over a half million dollars by the television evangelist Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike. The theater became the headquarters of his United Church Science of Living Institute and was renamed the Palace Cathedral, sometimes also called "Reverend Ike's Prayer Tower". It was completely restored and still continues to be maintained by the United Church.
The building was designated a New York City landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 13, 2016.
The architectural style of the terra-cotta-faced theater has been described as "Byzantine-Romanesque-Indo-Hindu-Sino-Moorish-Persian-Eclectic-Rococo-Deco" by David W. Dunlap of the New York Times, who wrote later that Lamb borrowed from "the Alhambra in Spain, the Kailasa rock-cut shrine in India, and the Wat Phra Keo temple in Thailand, adding Buddhas, bodhisattvas, elephants, and honeycomb stonework in an Islamic pattern known as muqarnas." The AIA Guide to New York City calls it "Cambodian neo-Classical" and invites a comparison to Lamb's Loew's Pitkin Theatre in Brownsville, Brooklyn, while New York Times reporter Nathaniel Adams called it simply a "kitchen-sink masterpiece." Lamb himself wrote that "Exotic ornaments, colors and scenes are particularly effective in creating an atmosphere in which the mind is free to frolic and becomes receptive to entertainment."
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