BlockThe nomination, in full
Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.
TH-CBD 472 BOSTON LANDMARKS COMMISSION Building Infornation Form Form No._ Area CBD NR Ind.#TH-55 ADDRESS 252-272 Tremont COR. NAME Music Hall/ Metropolitan Theatre present original MAP No. 24N/12E builaing permiT12/28/23 DATE 1923-1925 opening 10/12/1925 : chief designers: Blackall, Clapp and (Photo) ARCHITECT Whittemore. Also C. Howard Grane; Kenneth Franzheim, G. Nelson ,Me serve BUILDER e1 ympia construation co. 4 source: 3 source N.E. Medical Ctr.Hosr OWNER Tremont St. Realty/ OrIginal present PHOTOGRAPHS 103/6,3/7.35/2.5/3,1 2/4-79 Ward 3, Parcel # 5640 UTM# 19/329860/4690520 TYPE (residential) single double row 2-fam. 3-deck ten apt. (non-residential)theatre, offices and stores NO. OE STORIES (Ist to cornice) 14 plus ROOF Ilat cupola _ dormers_ MATERIALS (Frame) clapboards shingles stucco asphalt asbestos alum/viayl (Other) brick stone Limestone_concrete iron/steel/alum.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Irregularly-shaped Renaissance Revival "palazzo skyscraper with symmetrical, 11-bay Iremont Iacade. Iwo-story colonnade oi engaged fluted Greek Ionic columns at level, 2-3. Shaft of building organized by rising piers, recessed spandrals and paired metal window units, with ornament concentrated at level 4 and 5. Building terminated by two-story colonnade of engaged Corinthian pilasters at level 12 and 13, plus dentil EXTERIOR ALTERATION MinOI moderate drastic cornice and roof cresting of palmettes and theatre masks. CONDITION (good)fair poor LOT AREA 46,106 - sq. feet NOTEWORTHY SITE CHARACTERISTICS Building roughly L-shaped, wrapped around Wilbur Theatre to north. South elevation of 6 stone bays and tan panel smal triangular plaza.
(Map) 1980 (NRI) June, 1979 largest theatre in Boston history and one of the largest in the country, as the best .N.E= example of the sumptuous "movie palace" of the roaring twenties and as the last of Clarence Blackall's 14. Boston theatres. Ine tneatre reputealy cost $8.5m, seats 4600-4400. and is housed in a large office blddy first to be constructed in Bosgon under a new height limit of 14 stories. Architect Clarence Blackall (1857-1942), one of the DEC* -9 1980 Moved; date if known Themes (check as many as applicable) Aboriginal Agricultural Architectural The Arts Commerce Communication Community/ Conservation Education Exploration/ settlement Industry Military Political Recreation Religion Science/ iavention Social/ humanitarian Transportation X development Significance (include explanation of themes checked above) leading U.S.
theatre architects and designer ol the Colonlal, wilbur, moderr and Pilgrim/Olympia. .The interior, modeled after Garnier's Paris Opera®and decorated in the Louis XIV style, was appropriately advertised as "the public' castle" with "a thousand and one wonders" including the grand lobby with four tiers of prominades, spacious lounges, marble doorways, rose jasper pillers, tw 1800-1b. gold plated chandeliers, bronze details by the Gorham Company, and $10,000 in gems decorating the central mural painting by Edmund Philo Kellog.S The entertainment was equally extravagant. The Met offered a combination of films and a stage show, which might feature its resident ballet corps, 100- voice chorus, 55-piece orchestra and two-console organ, all Ior 35¢ or 75¢ on weekend evenings.
Resident producer John Murray Anderson arranged his own stage shows, headlined over the years with stars guch as Rudy Vallee, A1 Jolson, Burns and Allen, Jack Benny and Bob Hope. A seating board and cadre of 40 well-mannered, costumed ushers made sure that no seat remained empty long. Waiting patrons could arrange for bridge parties, lounge in comfortable chairs with the latest magazines, prominade to the music of two -lobby orchestras, play ping pong, or visit the chic art deco restaurant which opened in 1932. Since the destruction of the Boston-Opera House in 1958, the Metropolitan Haloaci-eased by Sack for public use and enjoyment, protection,utilities, context)._ t'heatres), since 196 ....
Preservation Recommendations: National Register (individual) and Boston City Landmark (interior) in the summer of 1980, provided the group can raise $1.75 million in cash & pledges by May, 1979, toward a projected $3.5 m. renovation involving a new Bibliography and/or references (such as local histories, deeds, assessor's stage, theat records, early maps, etc.) restoration & dressing rooms. 9 (Gobc 12/28 1. American Architect and Building News, 8/5/1926, plates 181-185, 187 (exterior and interior photographs, no text) 2. G. H. Edgell, The American Architect of Today, N.I. 1928, p. 332-335. 3. Sexton and Betts, American Theatres of Ioday, (1927), p. 56-59 (illustrations and plans) 4. Achievements of New England Architects and Engineers, Boston, 1927, p. 136. 5. Boston Evening Iranscript, 10/6/1925 6. Tucci, Douglass, "The Boston Rialto..." City Conservation League, 1977 7.
Broadway Down East by Elliot Norton, p. 23, 111 8: Boston Evening Transcript, 6/23/1923. Harvard Univ. Theatre collection (Music Hall and Metropolitan files) 9. Major Bibliographical References See continuation sheets, Section 9 UTM NOT VERIFID AOTEAGE NOT VER'PED 10. Geographical Data see individual and area forms Acreage of nominated property Quadrangle name Boston South UMT References A1,9 3/2,9/940 Zone Easting Quadrangle scale 1"=25,000' 4600650l Northing HLLLL Zone Easting LILLL Northing DLLJ LLLLLi E G LLLLLL FLUJLLILLL LILILLL HLULLILLLLILILLL Verbal boundary description and justification The southern boundary of the Theatre Area starts at a oint on Washington St., 520' south of, the intersection of Kneeland & Washington. From this point it uns due west along an arbitrary straight Tine to a point on Charles. St.. South 442' south of Stuart treet.
From thence it follows Charles St. South one block north to the intersection of Stuart st., List all states and counties for properties overlapping state or county boundaries state code county code state code county code 11. Form Prepared By name/title Candace Jenkins, Registration Director y came Fox ostol Landmarks Commission organization Massachusetts Historical Commission street & number 294 Washington Street date telephone (617) 727-8470 city or town Boston, state MA 02108 12.
State Historic Preservation Officer Certification The evaluated significance of this property within the state is: national state local As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89 665), I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria andprocedures set forth by the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service. State Historic Preservation Officer signature, aluahWeslonki 10/20/80 title For HCRS use only I hereby certify that this property is included in the National Register ail: Keeper of yhe National fepister Attest: ndls yChief of Registration -- date date 12-7/82 date 12/4/80 GPO 938 835 Property Brsten Sheatre Multiple Reconce Aua State MA Suffolk Working Number /l. 7.
80, 2781 TECHNICAL DUE 1/1/81 CONTROL Photos Maps 13 ti muere aonw odei rn eate mp tant atsta nu aehilelene HISTORIAN arcept ndglouth f the theater /moire house industey. Thedietrets and individual buildings chieved sighificanel between c. 1890and the 1930s - contained inthis m. R.A. au Patrick Andus ignificant qroups o lato 1gth/early 2othcent- commercial trüldings, therenter 1/4/80 "the music industry (especially piano manufacturing) and ARCHITECTURAL HISTORIAN yamples oevery lind of theater that developed in Beston in this period. This is a good multiple esource nomination -they hove included all the reguired categories ginformation.
ARCHEOLOGIST OTHER HAER Inventory Review REVIEW UNITCHIEF BRANCH CHIEF KEEPER National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry 2.2,87 Send-back Re-submit Entered DEC 9 1980 United States Department of the Interior -Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service ISAMTS Metropobiten Theater Bastea Toate MRA Please refer to the map in the Multiple Property Cover Sheet for this property Multiple Property Cover Sheet Reference Number: 64000272