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Romantic is the notion of renovating a vintage movie palace, its walls reverberating with images of stars from the past and the voices of the greats.
In reality, such a project can be challenging for the architects, consultants, and acousticians, as they face these ghosts of the past in order to create a technically modern theatre. A case in point is The Paramount Theatre in Boston, renovated as part of the Emerson College Paramount Center and its performing arts campus. Five years in the making, The Paramount opened last winter, and 2010-11 is its first official season.
"The whole building was in disrepair after being empty for many years," says Steven Friedlander, principal-in-charge at Auerbach Pollock Friedlander (APF) for the Emerson College Paramount Center and the firm's New York office. "Very little historic fabric was intact. Some of the reliefs remained, but most of the murals were damaged and falling off." Donald Guyton, senior associate in the New York office, who served as project manager, adds, "Elkus Manfredi Architects did extensive research into the original building, which opened in 1932, and other Paramount Theatres across the country from the same era."
For Elkus Manfredi, Howard Elkus was the partner-in-charge, Ross Cameron was the project architect, and Robert Koup was the design architect through design development. This is the second historic renovation project for this team at Emerson College. The first was the Cutler Majestic Theatre, just a few blocks away. "The college is committed to developing its downtown campus, and the Paramount property was perfectly located near its other facilities," notes Cameron. "The college is using both theatres as the base for a performance series designed to attract artists that would otherwise not be able to perform in Boston."
This time, one of the biggest challenges was redefining the shape of the room. "The original Paramount Theatre was a fairly narrow room and could not be expanded beyond the original footprint, requiring a creative approach to the stage and audience area design," says Friedlander. Major changes were required to convert the original 1,700-seat movie theatre into a 596-seat proscenium theatre. The new seats by Irwin Seating Company (Rialto with Cascade end standards) are upholstered in a Dijon-mustard tone in keeping with the warm look...