Rendering from H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture

Downtown Brooklyn’s Paramount Theatre is about to undergo a restoration to transform the 90-year-old landmark from a gymnasium back to a live performance venue. Retaining many of the space’s existing features while also modernizing it, Shawmut and H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture will move the entrance back to the theatre’s original corner location, convert the basketball court to a performance space with a new stage, lighting, and bar, and re-establish a loge level balcony and box office.

Excerpt from Bklyner

BSE Global (formerly Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment), which runs the nearby Barclays Center, chose the summer solstice to host a ceremonial groundbreaking event for the $50 million renovation announced in 2015. The restoration, led by BSE Global along with H3 Hardy Collaboration Architecture and Shawmut Construction, is scheduled to be completed in 2019.

The groundbreaking proves that the story is not yet over for this landmark. For 90 years the ornate, late Baroque-style venue has adapted to the constantly changing landscape of Brooklyn. Originally a 4/26 Wurlitzer-equipped movie palace built by Paramount Pictures, the theater opened on November 24, 1928—the same month Herbert Hoover was elected—in a booming Brooklyn dotted with theaters built for a growing movie audience.

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