Brooklyn Paramount Theatre Slated To Reopen In 2018 After Renovation

FORT GREENE, BROOKLYN — Jazz Age movie palace Brooklyn Paramount Theatre will undergo a massive year-long renovation this fall and reopen as a live entertainment venue in 2018, owners announced on Monday.

The Brooklyn Paramount Theatre on Dekalb and Flatbush avenues — first opened in 1928 — was known for hosting musical icons such as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie until Long Island University bought the building in 1962 and transformed it into a gym and multi-purpose space.

It was the first movie theater in the world specially designed to show talking pictures was renowned for its Rococo style decor as well as a 2,000-pipe Wurlitzer organ that can still be seen and heard in the space today.

When the redubbed LIU Brooklyn Paramount reopens at the end of 2018, it will be able to seat up to 3,000 and once again host concerts, as well as plays, comedy nights, boxing matches and more.

The restoration comes courtesy of the Paramount Events Center — led by Barclays Center developer Bruce Ratner and Onexim Sports and Entertainment — and LIU.

Architecture firm H3 — whose portfolio of work includes the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center Theatre, and the New York Botanical Garden — will provide the architects.

Images via Long Island University and the Paramount Events Center