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Thomas W. Lamb

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For other uses, see Thomas Lamb (disambiguation).
Thomas W. Lamb
Born1871
Dundee, Scotland
Died1942
New York City
Alma materCooper Union
OccupationArchitect
PracticeThomas W. Lamb, Inc.
BuildingsFox Theatre, San Francisco, 1929;
Madison Square Garden, 1925

Thomas White Lamb (1871–1942) was an American architect, born in Scotland. He is noted as one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.

Career

File:Lamb181.jpg
Photograph of Thomas W. Lamb, Architect

Born in Dundee, Scotland, Thomas W. Lamb came to the United States at the age of 12. He studied architecture at the Cooper Union school in New York and initially worked for the City of New York as an inspector. His architecture firm, Thomas W. Lamb, Inc., was located at 36 West 40th Street in Manhattan, New York.[1]

Lamb achieved recognition as one of the leading architects of the boom in movie theater construction of the 1910s and 1920s. Particularly associated with the Fox Theatres, Loew's Theatres and Keith-Albee chains of vaudeville and film theaters, Lamb was instrumental in establishing and developing the design and construction of the large, lavishly decorated theaters, known as "movie palaces", as showcases for the films of the emerging Hollywood studios. His first theater design was the City Theatre, built in New York in 1909 for film mogul William Fox. His designs for the 1914 Mark Strand Theatre, the 1916 Rialto Theatre and the 1917 Rivoli Theatre, all in New York's Times Square, set the template for what would become the American movie palace.

Among his most notable theaters are the 1929 Fox Theatre in San Francisco and the 1919 Capitol Theatre in New York, both now demolished. Among his most noted designs that have been preserved and restored are the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre in Boston (1928) (now the Boston Opera House), Warner's Hollywood Theatre (1930) in New York (now the Times Square Church), and the Loew's Ohio Theatre (1928) in Columbus, Ohio. Among Lamb's Canadian theaters that have been preserved is the Pantages Theatre in Toronto (1920) (now the Ed Mirvish Theatre).[2] The Cinema Treasures website, which documents the history of film theaters, lists 174 theaters designed by Lamb's company.

Aside from movie theaters, Lamb is noted for designing (with Joseph Urban) New York's Ziegfeld Theatre, a legitimate theater, as well as the third Madison Square Garden (1925) and the Paramount Hotel in midtown Manhattan.

Lamb died in 1942 in New York City at the age of 71. His architectural archive is held by the Drawings and Archives Department of Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library at Columbia University.

John J. McNamara

During the last ten years of his practice, Lamb's associate was the architect John J. McNamara.[3] After Lamb's death, McNamara continued as an architect of theaters under his own name. McNamara was responsible for renovating some of Lamb's older New York theaters, and among his original designs was one for the 1969 Ziegfeld Theatre in Manhattan, which replaced Lamb's original building.

Selected theater designs

United States

  • Interior of B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston, 1928 (1970)
    Interior of B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, Boston, 1928 (1970)
  • Pitkin, Brooklyn, 1928 (2010)
    Pitkin, Brooklyn, 1928 (2010)
  • Tivoli, Washington, DC, 1924 (2005)
    Tivoli, Washington, DC, 1924 (2005)
  • The United Palace Theater, formerly Loew's 175th Street Theatre, New York, 1930 (2009)
    The United Palace Theater, formerly Loew's 175th Street Theatre, New York, 1930 (2009)
  • Interior of the United Palace Theater (2007)
    Interior of the United Palace Theater (2007)
  • Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln Road, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, 1936
    Lincoln Theatre, Lincoln Road, South Beach, Miami Beach, Florida, 1936

Canada

  • Capitol Theatre, Hamilton, Ontario, 1920; all but lobby demolished in 1973[8]
  • Capitol Theatre, Windsor, Ontario, 1920; currently a performing arts centre.[9]
  • Pantages Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, 1920
  • Uptown Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, 1920; demolished in 2003

India

  • Metro Cinema, Mumbai, India, 1938
    Metro Cinema, Mumbai, India, 1938

Residential Architecture

In 1920, Lamb designed for himself a private summer home in the Adirondacks in the village of Elizabethtown, New York. The house, which is still extant as a residence, is situated on the Boquet River. The eight-bedroom manor, referred to today as Cobble Mountain Lodge, is a shingle and cobble stone design marked by the whimsy of a stone turret.

References

  1. ^ "THOMAS W. LAMB, 71; A NOTED ARCHITECT". New York Times. February 27, 1942.
  2. ^ Pound, Richard W. (2005). 'Fitzhenry and Whiteside Book of Canadian Facts and Dates'. Fitzhenry and Whiteside.
  3. ^ Dunlap, David W. (May 9, 1988). "John J. McNamara, an Architect And Theater Designer, Dies at 90". New York Times.
  4. ^ Morrison, William (1999). Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture. Dover Books on Architecture. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. p. 82. ISBN 0-486-40244-4. {{cite book}}: |format= requires |url= (help)
  5. ^ Morrison, p. 82
  6. ^ Cinema Treasures
  7. ^ http://www.heritagefdn.on.ca/userfiles/HTML/nts_1_8090_1.html Ontario Heritage Trust Loew's Yonge Street and Winter Garden Theatres
  8. ^ Archives of Ontario
  9. ^ The Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre

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