Crescent

Ithaca’s first purpose-built movie palace, the 1,300-seat Crescent Theatre boasted a wide metal awning and an impressive oval marquee. An artist specializing in theater interiors decorated the theater’s classically inspired interior. A Marr and Colton Company orchestral organ provided musical accompaniment to shows. The Crescent auditorium’s sloping floor was leveled in 1931, and the space was converted to a dance hall. In 1946, the Ithaca Conservatory of Music (later Ithaca College) purchased the building to use as their “Aurora gym.” (The former Star Theater was known as the college’s “Seneca gym.”) In the ‘70s the building found new life as a night club and disco before being converted in 1985 by HOLT Architects for office use. Chiang O’Brien Architects renovated the building in 2016.

ARCHITECTS: Gibb & Waltz

OPENED: 1916 Adaptively reused as office space

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