Shea’s – Buffalo, NY
Shea’s Buffalo Theatre, 646 Main Street Buffalo, NY 14202
Opening on January 16, 1926, it had seating for 4,000 patrons and was one of the largest theatres in the country. Long before the Loew’s “Wonder Theatres”, the lettering above Shea’s double bronze doors proclaimed this theatre to be “The Wonder Theatre.” With an initial budget of $1 million, Michael Shea wanted his masterpiece to rival other show houses in the major cities across the country and spared no expense; consequently, the building costs quickly escalated to almost $2 million. Chicago architects C.W. and George I. Rapp designed the building; world-renowned artist and designer Louis C. Tiffany designed the interior. The Rapp brothers used the finest furnishing companies to outfit the building.
The terra cotta exterior, Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers, and marble staircases created a look of opulence-meant to resemble the baroque opera houses of Europe from the 16th and 17th century. Tiffany gets the credit for the amazing ceiling detail and the massive chandeliers, in a Spanish Baroque Revival style with a modern American adaptation. Newspaper reports boasted that 7,000 electric lights were used to illuminate the front entrance. Two orchestra pit elevators, one for the orchestra and one for the organ console fronted the stage.
As the first vaudeville stop after New York City, many of the brightest stars of the era graced its stage. Organist Lloyd G. Del Castillo was at the console on opening night. Cab Calloway and George Burns performed on opening night, as well as at the 50th anniversary grand reopening in 1976 when the theatre was saved by the “Friends of the Buffalo!” Other notable organists included Jesse Crawford, Ann Leaf, C. Sharpe Minor, Albert Hay Malotte and Henry Murtaugh. The theatre was wildly successful in its first three years of operation. It was leased to the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation which became the Paramount Corporation, it was also part of the Famous Players-Lasky vaudeville circuit.
The theater was one of the first in the country to be air conditioned, the invention of a local engineer, Willis Carrier. But everything began to change in October 1929 with the nations wide depression. Michael Shea passed away in 1934 and his wife and daughter sold their interest in the business soon after. Slowly the grandeur faded as the orchestra was discontinued in 1940, and the organ went silent shortly thereafter.
Struggling through the 1950s and 60s, eventually the theatre was acquired by the Loew’s Corporation, then by a private investor who leased back to Loew’s. Suburban flight and minimal maintenance took its toll until sadly, in 1974 the City of Buffalo foreclosed for back taxes owed. Then Curt Mangel entered the picture. Hired as the theatre engineer, he founded the “Friends of the Buffalo” which became the driving force to save the theatre. Thus began the long road to restoration and profitability. Today, following many years of painstaking labor and many millions of dollars, Shea’s Buffalo is arguably one of America’s finest and most spectacular theatres.
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