9. The St. George Theater was designed to rival some of the premier theaters in New York City

The marquee on the entrance of the historic St George Theater in Staten Island
Outside of the St. George Theatre

The 2,800-seat performing arts center opened in 1929 and was built in honor of Solomon Brill, who owned a number of movie theaters on Staten Island and in the New York metropolitan area. It began as a movie theater and was not used as a stage for any other type of performance until the 1950s, when theater owners began to diversify the kinds of performances and integrate both films and live acts together. Musical icons like Chaka Kahn and Lester Flatt, as well as comedians Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld, performed at the St. George Theater.

The theater’s main architect was Eugene De Rosa, who alongside fellow architect Nestor Castro integrated a captivating Spanish and Italian Baroque revival-style design to the interior of the theater. Along with the incorporation of gold plasterwork on the walls, velvet seats, stained glass, and intricate staircases, the designers looked to perfect the acoustics of the showroom. The sound was contained in a way that enabled the performers on stage to project their voices without requiring much more effort than if they were to have a conversation with someone from across a room.