poli's palace theater, a forgotten new haven gem
Poli's Palace, a theater built in 1905 by Sylvester Z. Poli, is a long-forgotten artifact of the gaudy golden age of cinema. Poli is the epitome of "picture palaces," the nickname given to movie theaters in the 1920s as cinema exploded in popularity.
Poli's is clearly a place meant to flaunt elegance in entertainment. Its facade is cut into three parts with elaborate moulding and Greek-architecture-inspired pediments above the second-story windows. A dome tops the building, ornate yet set back so as to not appear imposing to passerby below. The theater is built in the Beaux-Arts style, characterized by symmetry, classical details (like the pediment), and stone materials. The sign for the name of the theater, Poli's Palace Theatre, consists of two distinct script types. The spelling of "theatre," according to Google Ngram, rose steadily in use throughout the 1920s and reached its peak in 1928. The choice of the British spelling, as opposed to the American "theater," might have been to bring more of a sense of refinement often associated with western Europe.
The cursive script of Poli's, however, calls on the dramatic flair of the establishment, on its grace and grandeur. In combination with its structural elements (the pediments, the moulding, the large windows, the dome), this script highlights how much of an event space this was. It was a place of transportation, meant to take people into its lobby, envelop them in red velvet and gold, and have them disappear into the fantastical world of film for a time.
The 1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of the plot Poli's was built on tells us more about the theater and its elaborate design. Poli's Palace is central to the block, right in the middle of where Crown, George, Orange, and Church streets intersect. It is a fireproof building, made of concrete floors and brick walls likely to add to the sense of permanence and boldness, although it could also be because stone is a good material to mold and sculpt into elegant forms as decoration.
It is also interesting to consider the intersection of business and entertainment, seen with the office spaces on the upper floors. Poli built and owned several theaters across New England and even in Canada, so it is likely that the office spaces above the Palace theater were used to manage these constellations of theaters or that they were rented out to local business owners. Poli was known for this philanthropy; he was part of New Haven Civic Improvement Committee and often hosted events with guest lists including mainly American first-generation business owners. Poli is quoted as saying, "If a city has patronized you, stay there and reinvest in that city," which points to the Palace as being one of his philanthropic efforts to give back to the city not just artistically but perhaps also with those office spaces.
The photograph itself was taken by Herbert Randall, a photographer for the Herbert Randall Survey of New Haven and Environs. The particular collection this image comes from consists of images of New Haven and its surrounding areas; its purpose is to document the cityscape and record Connecticut's history, and in the case of Poli's Palace, this image captures the spectacularity of an establishment meant to be a central piece of New Haven's downtown scene at this time.
Today, nothing remains of Poli's Palace on Church Street. Instead, a parking lot has paved over where once stood one of the greatest testaments to old Hollywood, to the transition from silent films to talkies, to the power of cinema to bring people together.
Sources:
Fierro, Rafaele. "Sylvester Poli, Negotiating Cultural Politics in an Age of Immigration: Connecticut History: A CT Humanities Project." Connecticut History, 31 Aug. 2020, https://connecticuthistory.org/sylvester-poli-negotiating-cultural-politics-in-an-age-of-immigration/.
"Poli's Palace Theater." Walk New Haven, https://walknewhaven.org/polis-palace-theater.
Randall, Herbert. "Poli's Palace Theatre." 1880-1920. Connecticut State Library, https://hdl.handle.net/11134/30002:22168148.