The Loew's Jersey Theatre is a cinema and performance venue at 54 Journal Square in Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. Designed by Rapp and Rapp as a movie palace, it opened on September 28, 1929, as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. Owned by the government of Jersey City, the Loew's Jersey has been operated by Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) since 2021. It is listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places.
The Loew's Jersey occupies an irregular site and is divided into two sections: the lobby and the auditorium. The lobby section has an elaborate terracotta facade with a marquee, a mechanical Seth Thomas clock, and a sculpture of Saint George fighting a fire-breathing dragon. The entrance leads to a vestibule and a lobby with high ceilings, in addition to several foyers and lounges. The auditorium has at least 3,021 seats on two levels, with an elaborately decorated proscenium arch, walls, and ceilings. Like the other Wonder Theaters, the Loew's Jersey featured a theater pipe organ manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company; the current organ was taken from the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, New York.
Loew's Theatres began developing a theater in Journal Square in 1927. The Loew's Jersey originally presented films and live shows, although the live shows were discontinued in 1935. The theater slowly declined after World War II, screening films almost exclusively, and was split into a triplex cinema in 1974. The theatre closed in August 1986 after Hartz Mountain Industries acquired the theater with the intent of demolishing it and redeveloping the site. Supporters of the theater's preservation formed Friends of the Loew's (FOL), which began restoring the theater after Jersey City's government bought it in 1993. The theater partially reopened for performances in 2001. After several unsuccessful attempts to lease the theater to a third party, Jersey City officials leased the theater to HBSE in early 2021. HBSE closed the theater later that year for an extensive renovation, which, , is planned to be completed in 2026.
Description The Loew's Jersey is located at 54 Journal Square in the Journal Square neighborhood of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The theater is on an irregular site on the western sidewalk of Kennedy Boulevard, just west of the Journal Square Transportation Center. It is divided into two sections: the lobby section to the east and the auditorium to the west. The PATH railroad tracks run slightly north of the theater. Directly to the south is an alley known as Journal Square Concourse West or Gloria Esposito Way, which links Kennedy Boulevard and Magnolia Avenue. The theater is surrounded by commercial and office structures, including Journal Squared to the east and One Journal Square and 26 Journal Square to the south.
The Loew's Jersey was designed by the firm of Rapp and Rapp. The theater is variously described as being in the Spanish Baroque or Italian rococo styles. The theater was one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area and the only one outside New York City proper. The other Wonder Theatres were the Paradise Theatre in the Bronx, the 175th Street Theatre in Manhattan, the Valencia Theatre in Queens, and the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn. The Loew's Jersey was also one of three large movie theaters on Journal Square, along with the State Theatre and the Stanley Theatre.
Facade
Journal Square elevation The primary elevation of the facade faces east toward Journal Square. The facade is clad in cream-colored terracotta and is split vertically into a heavily ornamented central bay and two outer bays. On Journal Square, the lobby section is accessed by a wide doorway. The doors are recessed slightly from the facade, and there is a bronze ticket booth protruding from the middle of the storefront, separating the doors into two sets of four. Bronze columns divide the front of the ticket booth into several sections with bronze panels and glass panes. Above the doorway is an arched transom window. The original marquee above the doorway was curved, but it was replaced in 1949 with a rectangular sign flanked by two rectangular light boxes. In 2024, the marquee was again replaced with an LED sign.
To the north (or right) of the main entrance, under the marquee, is a black-marble exit doorway with sign boxes and a recessed double door. To the south (or left) of the main entrance is a single-story storefront with a glass frieze above it. Approximately half of the storefront is covered by the marquee, while the remainder is topped by a terracotta cornice.
Above the marquee, the central bay is surrounded by a curved frame and includes motifs such as an urn, flowers, a fruit bowl, and cherubs. Atop the frame is a clock manufactured by the Seth Thomas Clock Company, measuring approximately across. There is also an arched niche with animated figures of Saint George slaying a dragon, designed by an unknown artist. The Saint George and dragon figures are made of bronze and are each tall. The dragon figure could move its jaws, and it also had a red light bulb behind its mouth. Every fifteen minutes, a bell rang once, and the dragon's mouth moved to reveal the lightbulb while Saint George raised his sword. A separate bell rang every hour, except after 10:00 p.m.
The central and outer bays are separated by pilasters with fluting. The outer bays each contain terracotta frames, and there is a face with a mask at the top of each frame. A frieze runs atop the eastern elevation of the facade. Both outer bays are topped by elaborate parapets with urns and asymmetrical pinnacles; the northern pinnacle, on the right, is taller. Behind the main entrance's facade is the auditorium's facade, which is made of buff-colored brick. The top of the auditorium's facade has a terracotta parapet that steps up toward a medallion at its center. There is also a chimney at the southern end of the auditorium's eastern facade.
Other elevations The north elevation, facing a neighboring department store, is made of buff brick with terracotta decorations. Within the theater's eastern (lobby) section, the north elevation consists of three arched panels made of terracotta. Above the lobby's north elevation is a terracotta frieze with a medallion at its center. The theater's western (auditorium) section is also divided into three arched terracotta panels, which are each topped by shields with leaves. There are pilasters between each of the auditorium's panels, in addition to pilasters at the extreme western end of the facade. Above the auditorium's north elevation is another terracotta frieze with shields above each of the three panels, as well as a stepped parapet, similar to the one atop the Journal Square elevation.
The south and west elevations curve into each other and are both plain in design. The south elevation is made of buff brick and faces the adjacent alley, while the west elevation is made of red brick and faces the cul-de-sac at Magnolia Avenue. On the south elevation, the eastern section of the ground story is clad in stucco, and there is a terracotta cornice and a setback above the ground-story storefront. Behind the setback, the easternmost section of the south elevation's upper stories is decorated with a terracotta panel, while the rest of the upper-story facade is clad in plain brick. The west elevation, and the westernmost section of the south elevation, are similar in style except for the brick color. There are several doorways at ground level, a belt course above these doorways, and a fire escape with a canopy.
Interior When the theater opened, the interior was described as being decorated in the Italian baroque style. It included a collection of expensive and rare art from Europe. These included furnishings, bronzes, canvases, and clocks from England, France, Germany, and Italy. There was also an air-conditioning system that distributed cooled air throughout the building. At the time of the theater's opening, Loew's characterized the theater as "equal to a trip to the mountains, sea or country".
Vestibule
The main entrance leads to a vestibule with white and black marble finishes on the walls. The vestibule has a plaster crown molding with leaves and flowers, in addition to a plaster ceiling with medallions and a chandelier. The vestibule's eastern wall has bronze-and-glass doors leading from the entrance, and the western wall has a nearly identical set of doors leading to the lobby. There were originally black-and-white marble ticket booths on the north and south walls of the vestibule, though only the south ticket booth is still extant. There is also a doorway on the north wall, leading to a passage to the theater's northern exit, and a doorway on the south wall, leading to the theater's offices. The office of the theater's assistant manager, to the south, was converted to a restroom in the 2000s.
Lobby The lobby is elliptical and has a gold and gray color scheme with blue and red accents. It is elaborately decorated with such motifs as medallions, cherubs, cartouches, faces, floral patterns, fleurs-de-lis, gold ropes, putti, and urns. The terrazzo floor is covered with carpets. The center of the lobby is surrounded by columns in the Corinthian order; the bottoms of the marble columns are clad in copper and rest on marble pedestals. The lower portions of the walls have marble wainscoting, and the lobby's rear wall had mirrors with gilded frames, There are also niches with gold mosaic tiles. The ceiling rises three stories above the ground story and is domed. A six-tiered bronze-and-crystal chandelier is suspended from the center of the ceiling, which cost $60,000 to install.
A pair of curving stairs leads from the lobby to a mezzanine. The staircase on the southern wall has a white-marble newel post with an elaborate lamp, in addition to a bronze balustrade, and fabric panels along the wall. The south staircase's intermediate landing has a gold-tiled niche. The staircase on the northern wall has a bronze balustrade, similar to the one on the south staircase.
The mezzanine, along the main lobby's perimeter, is placed behind the Corinthian columns and has a bronze railing. The mezzanine's outer walls have brocade panels and mirrors, while the coffered ceiling has gold-colored medallions. There were originally velvet furniture along the mezzanine. The northern and southern portions of the mezzanine both have two niches, one each to the west and east, which have turquoise walls and gold-colored plaster decorations. At the eastern end of the mezzanine is the music gallery, which has a domed ceiling, plaster decorations, and walls with brocade panels and mirrors. It originally had a piano, a china collection, paintings, and bronze and silver figures; some of the items were salvaged from one of the Vanderbilt residences in New York City.
Foyers and galleries The lobby's ground level connects with the orchestra-level foyer to the west. That space had a red-carpeted floor; a wall with marble wainscoting, gilded pilasters, and red fabric panels; freestanding square piers; and a ceiling with medallions and gold leaf. The orchestra foyer also had an antique French clock. Fireproof kalamein doors on the south wall lead to the basement, while those to the west lead to the auditorium.
The mezzanine foyer, directly above the orchestra foyer, has a red carpet, in addition to blue walls with red brocade panels and golden pilasters. The mezzanine had a pool with live goldfish, which was removed in 1974. This pool is flanked by niches with gold and green tiles. Fireproof kalamein doors lead off the mezzanine foyer to the theater's lounges and restrooms. The ceiling has plaster medallions and gold-and-green decorations.