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Somerville Theater

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1914, Funk and Wilcox. 55 Davis Sq.
  • Somerville Theater (NR) (Keith Morgan)

The Somerville Theater claims the north half of a two-story commercial block known as the Hobbs Building, originally designed also to contain shops, a bowling alley, a café, offices, and meeting rooms. Designed for both vaudeville and silent films, it is the only surviving theater in the Boston area that was built for vaudeville, as well as the oldest extant movie theater. The exterior of the theater is in the Italian Renaissance style, whereas the interior is a mixture of 1914 Beaux-Arts classicism and an Art Deco remodeling from 1932, when live performances gave way entirely to films. Funk and Wilcox designed the Strand Theater (DR11) in Dorchester in 1917–1918, which is also extant.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Keith N. Morgan
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Data

What's Nearby

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Citation

Keith N. Morgan, "Somerville Theater", [Somerville, Massachusetts], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MA-01-SM12.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Massachusetts

Buildings of Massachusetts: Metropolitan Boston, Keith N. Morgan, with Richard M. Candee, Naomi Miller, Roger G. Reed, and contributors. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009, 404-404.

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