The Coolidge Corner Theatre

The development of the Coolidge Corner neighborhood plays an important part in the history of Brookline's growth from a sleepy farm borough to a thriving suburb and independent-minded town.

In 1857, among the summer estates and farmlands, David S. Coolidge and William J. Griggs established the "Coolidge and Brother" general store at the corner of Beacon and Harvard Streets, at that time a stop on the coach line to and from Boston.

In 1886, with the advent of the street car, local tycoon Henry M. Whitney hired Frederick Law Olmstead to widen Beacon Street into a boulevard. The following year, the first elevated street car ran up Beacon Street, and subsequently area property values skyrocketed. Land was subdivided for one and two-family homes, apartment buildings were constructed along the "model French boulevard," and new business structures, including the S.S. Pierce Building (1898), went up near "Coolidge's Corner".

1906 - The building

It was the booming of this area, the activity of the neighborhood, and its proximity to public transportation that attracted the Beacon Universalists Church (a merger between Brookline's church of that name and Boston's Shawmut Universalist Society) to build their new sanctuary at 280-292 Harvard Street in 1906.

The Romanesque revival structure housed a large sanctuary (where the Coolidge Corner Theatre Auditorium is today), Sunday school classrooms, offices, a social hall, and in the front of the building, a store front with several retail spaces.

As early as 1919, the Beacon Universalist Church was interested in selling its property due to financial difficulty. Meanwhile, new immigrant groups moved into the neighborhood, the Coolidge Corner Association was formed as an organization of area business interests, and commercial development continued with the construction of the Arcade (1926), Durham Garage (1926), Boulevard Trust Co. (1930), and other buildings in the area.

1933 - A Movie Theater Is Born

Since the 1910s, movie theater speculators had been trying to get a foothold in Brookline. Old-fashioned and independent-minded Brookline, which had continuously resisted annexation to Boston, also resisted the intrusion of the burgeoning movie industry. Various zoning and financial obstacles impeded efforts to establish a movie theater in the town until 1933, when the Beacon Universalist Church leased its property to Morris Sharaf and Joseph and Max Levenson of the Harvard Amusement Co., an offshoot of the Strand Theatre chain. It is illustrated here in a pen and ink drawing of the theater as it looked during the 1930s.

Extensive renovations by local laborers and contractors, following architect Ernest Hayward's designs transformed the church into a modern movie theater and ushered in what the Brookline Chronicle described as "a real chapter in the life of the town."

On December 30, 1933, Brookline's first movie theater opened with a gala ceremony including speeches by local politicians and businessmen, the distribution of souvenirs, and a showing of Only Yesterday, Saturday's Millions, a Disney short, and "a series of local pictures taken especially for the occasion."

As the years passed, grand movie palaces were becoming less commercially viable, and movie audiences demanded more moderate movie houses in their own neighborhoods, theaters built specifically as showcases for the technical advances related to film exhibition.

Since 1933 - Evolution

Changes in the Brookline community, the film industry, and in movie-going audiences have required the Coolidge to adapt over the past 60 years. Don't take it from us, read a richly detailed remembrance of the Coolidge before the Second World War by Leonard Cravath, former usher at the Coolidge.

Upon acquisition by Justin Freed in 1977, the Coolidge became a showcase for "art" pictures and catered to contemporary tastes for foreign and independent films. As suburbs beyond Brookline boomed and movie audiences flocked to suburban multiplex cinemas, Freed converted the balcony section into another theater to attract more patrons. Finding it difficult to compete with the multiplexes and with video rentals, Freed eventually chose to sell the theater, and it was threatened with demolition and conversion of the property into a mall.

In 1989, the Brookline community dramatically and successfully rallied together in a grassroots campaign to save the theater. They believed in the value of a community coming together to share the experience of seeing stories unfold on a giant screen. They understood the potential the Coolidge had to draw in a broad spectrum of residents across generations and social classifications. Today, the Coolidge Comer Theatre Foundation runs a diverse program of art films, popular films, independent films, first-runs, local filmmaker showcases, children's matinees, and film-related events that appeal to the communities of Brookline and greater Boston. We've grown from strength to strength with the continued support from the community and beyond. Our contribution to film culture has been recognized locally, nationally and internationally.

The renaissance of the Coolidge began in 1999, when volunteer Board Member Joseph Zina became Executive Director. With the generous cooperation of the The Hamilton Charitable Trust and Harold Brown the theater negotiated a 50-year lease and forgiveness of $350,000 of debt. With intitial preservation and restoration grants from foundations the basic infrastructure of the theatre began. HVAC, electrical, plumbing problems were solved. New restrooms, lighting, and carpeting created a momentum of optimism that the community quickly rallied behind. In 2000, old office space became a video screening room that added digital opportunities for local filmmakers to show their work in a professional setting and rental opportunities for increase revenue. In 2002, the build out of a childrens' performance stage thanks to a donation transformed the small upstairs moviehouse into a theatrical space that expanded community programming and brought in family audiences. Later that year, a new theatre marquee became a beacon of optimism and a stimulus for the rebirth of the business community. In 2006, a facility renovation of $1.2million added handicap and hearing disability services throughout the theatre.

The Coolidge is the only operating not-for-profit Art Deco theatre in the Boston area and is one of the top ten arthouse film exhibition theaters in the county. From the sponsoring of china giveaways during the Depression to the visits honoring Zhang Yimou, Vittorio Storaro, Meryl Streep, Thelma Schoonmaker and Jeremy Thomas the Coolidge Corner Theatre has played a unique and indelible role in the development and social history of the town of Brookline.