Wharton Pavilion

This building, by Clinton L. Vivian and Arthur Gibb, was originally designed as a dance pavilion. Over the years, it also housed a vaudeville stage and served as a movie theater. Nowadays it hosts the City of Ithaca Department of Transportation and Works if you were able to peek inside, you’d get a glimpse of it’s greatest life: home to a bustling motion picture studio, Wharton Studios, Inc.

In 1915, Theodore and Leopold Wharton leased 45 acres of the park, including the building and Picnic Pavilion, and produced hundreds of silent films and serials starring some of the best-known actors of the day including Irene Castle, Lionel Barrymore and Pearl White. After the Whartons left Ithaca, the pavilion was repurposed as the restroom and storage facility it is today.

Wharton Studio Museum, a local nonprofit committed to preserving and celebrating the role of Ithaca and the surrounding region in silent film history, is working in collaboration with Friends of Stewart Park to transform the historic Wharton Studio building into the Wharton Studio & Cafe, featuring exhibits on Ithaca’s movie and park history, and a cafe & retail kiosk. To embark on a more in-depth exploration of silent film in Stewart Park, take the Wharton Studio Silent Film Tour at https://pocketsights.com/tours/tour/Ithaca-Wharton-Studio-Silent-Film-Tour-1085.

The Wharton Building is currently home to the park's all season bathrooms, on the eastern side of the building.