Park Slope’s Iconic Pavilion Theater May Go Residential

December 8, 2014

Images on the website of architecture firm Architecture Outfit reveal that Park Slope‘s historic Pavilion Theater at 188 Prospect Park South may go residential. The theater is currently owned by a consortium led by Ben Kafash who purchased the theater from Morristown, NJ-based Cinedigm in 2011.

One scheme shows a six-story residential building rising behind the theater’s sublime Moorish façade and from a neighboring lot just south of the theater. It conceptualizes a mix of apartments along the circle dubbed Bartel-Pritchard Square and contextually scaled townhouses along narrow 14th Street. The second scheme preserves the theater in its entirety and limits new construction to the neighboring lot at 190 Prospect Park West where a nondescript one-story building currently stands.

Pavilion Theater, Architecture Outfitt, Movie Palaces, Brooklyn theaters, Prospect Park, Park Slope Historic District, Park Slope
New residential wing at 190 Prospect Park West along Bartel-Pritchard Square

Pavilion Theater Park Slope (1)
Scheme A

Pavilion Theater Park Slope (2)
Scheme B

The theater and its surrounding blocks were absorbed into the Park Slope Historic District in 2012. All changes to the theater’s exterior and new construction alongside it will be subject to review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. However, the theater’s interior is not landmarked, and, according to moviegoers, has fallen into an unfortunate state of disrepair. Complaints of broken seats, exposed walls, torn upholstery, and bedbugs have plagued the theater. One recent visitor simply declared the theater a “bio-hazard.”

How do you like the new designs for the Pavilion Theater?

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  1. B

    I was there Friday night. They just installed all new wide, reclining leather seats. They just made a pretty big investment in the theater. It would seem like they are planning on Scheme B.

  2. B

    Park Slope doesn’t need Theaters or Churches or Deli’s or Parks … all it needs are Condos!

  3. T

    Seriously though, Park Slope and Windsor Terrace do not need this theater. This is a rare instance where I would say GOOD RIDDANCE.

    I’ve lived within blocks of that theater for 15 years, and maybe went four times. The 2nd, 3rd & 4th times were just because I forgot how bad it really was.

  4. B

    I would go there when it was the Sanders. It was one of many theaters in the neighborhood.The RKO Prospect, Avon, The Globe, the Minerva, the Plaza and another I don’t remember the name.

  5. D

    The Sanders had the meanest matron in the neighborhood. Miss the old Slope.

  6. C

    Terrace Windsor, you do not speak for the community; only your own self.

  7. M

    I remember when it was the Sanders great memories had my first date and make out session there wish we could go back in time I hung out with some boys from 16th street and the girls were from the parkside and 9th ave. and 18th street I lived on 20th st and Terrace Place Marie La Rocca Saitta now residing in Florida but I’m still a Brooklyn girl and always will be

  8. M

    Park Slope will never be the same I know times are changing but when I go back home to visit a little of the neighborhood is always slipping away and it makes me sad because I know things will never be the same but at least I have great memories of a time that was a happy childhood for me and no one can take those away from me

  9. K

    @Bklyn283, there 16th Street Theater , one block south of the Globe(15thSt) on the other side of fifth avenue. I went to them all too…it was really big time when you went down to Flatbush/Fulton Sts where you had the Fox, Paramount, Albee, Duffied. Lowes Metropolitan..near schrafts cafeteria

  10. K

    We’re already saturated with condos in spaces that never were residential before (think of 4th ave), but this is the only movie theater within walking distance. If they could invest in cleaning it up, I would prefer to keep a theater. But then I cried when they closed Key Food too, so what’s my opinion worth?

  11. J

    @everyone bemoaning the possible loss of the theater, or the possible advent of new condos:
    How about pooling your funds, buying the building, and either keeping it as a theater or at least keep it from going condo? Or would you just prefer to sit on the sidelines and bellyache about what OTHERS are doing? “Better to light a candle than curse the darkness”