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1. Patty Remmell says:

   August 24, 2012 at 8:37 am

   I was lucky enough to attend movies there before they tore it down. As a child, I saw it as a real palace and it was always a huge treat when my dad took me to the movies.
2. Luke Myer says:

   August 24, 2012 at 9:31 am

   Looks incredible…I wish I could have seen it!
3. erik stonehan says:

   August 24, 2012 at 10:13 am

   I lived in that neighborhood for years and I always wondered what was there. Beautiful building. I wish I was around 70years ago to see it in its full luster.
4. RochesterSubway.com says:

   August 24, 2012 at 10:52 am

   Makes you think doesn’t it? There could be a story under each one of these parking lots…

   http://www.rochestersubway.com/topics/2012/02/does-rochester-have-a-parking-problem/
5. Karen Colizzi Noonan says:

   August 24, 2012 at 11:10 am

   Thank you for this wonderful article! It has been shared on the website and Facebook page for the Theatre Historical Society of America – the only organization in the United States specifically dedicated to the history and education of all forms of American theaters. The RKO in Rochester was THE most glamorous of the Rochester palaces – thank you for the vintage photos that show her off to a whole new generation!
6. RochesterSubway.com says:

   August 24, 2012 at 11:18 am

   @Karen, thank you for sharing the story. I will check out the Theatre Historical Society site!
7. Mittens says:

   August 24, 2012 at 12:43 pm

   Cool find! Too bad it couldn’t be found under more positive circumstances.
8. RochesterSubway.com says:

   August 24, 2012 at 1:11 pm

   Heads up… News 8 WROC will air this story tonight at 5:30p. Tune in!
9. Tim Schramm says:

   August 24, 2012 at 4:07 pm

   The Wurlitzer theatre organ that was once there is now housed in the Auditorium Theatre. It is owned and maintained by the Rochester Theatre Organ Society of which I am vice-president. We are one of the largest theatre organ groups in the country and the organ can be heard in monthly concerts. Many of our members have pictures of the RKO Palace and it’s Wurlitzer. Just do a google search of our “organ”-i-zation and you’ll find us. Our Wurlitzer, once housed on the old RKO Palace, is one of the finest theatre organs in the country.
10. Chris says:

    August 24, 2012 at 5:32 pm

    Great photos, thanks for sharing!
11. Brian Kelly says:

    August 24, 2012 at 11:04 pm

    Rochester lost ALL of its movie *palaces*, unlike most other American cities (even lowly Oakland has two beautifully restored jewels). I saw “It’s A Wonderful Life” at the Palace at the opening day matinee (Christmas week of 1946). And, yes, I remember that tree!).

    I was so enthralled by “Life” that I returned to see it three more times during opening week, each time bringing relatives along with me. As I recall, the theatre was packed each time.

    Going to the Palace was a glorious experience.
12. Rick says:

    August 25, 2012 at 10:52 am

    Pretty fascinating. I was about 8 when it was torn down, but, sadly, never got to actually see it. I’ve only gotten to hear about it from my parents, aunts, uncles, even older brothers that got to go there regularly back in the day. I find it appalling to think that city leaders back then saw no value in preserving this impossible-to-duplicate masterpiece of architecture. Probably the classiest building this city ever had accessible to the public. Recently I’ve managed to get the privilege of being on the maintenance staff of that incredible Wurlitzer organ now in the Auditorium and now I get to hear all about the theater from the guys that were there when the organ was, thankfully, salvaged by them. Makes me wish all the more that I could’ve seen it. They’ve kept about a 3 sq. foot piece of plaster ornamentation on the inside door to the relay room, that’s about as close as I’ll ever get to the place. As Tim Schramm pointed out previously, the organ is in absolute pristine condition still and concerts are played monthly, hopefully some of you will look up the RTOS website and come check it out in September!
13. Jeff Freeland says:

    August 25, 2012 at 2:31 pm

    Typically there was a huge room sized volume of open space often tall enough to stand in, and called a plenum, under the entire auditorium floor which acted as a sort of reservoir for the ventilation system. It fed those mushroom shaped vents, the holes for which remain in the floor shown above. This was the end of a long line of Victorian and early Twentieth century era innovations, before air conditioning, for moving truly massive amounts of air through public spaces. They had become masters at it.
14. Bonnie Cannan says:

    August 26, 2012 at 9:40 am

    Gorgeous Theater!!! Unfortunately, many other such landmarks across this country had the same fate. It is ironic that just as with this theater, the current plan to build a bus barn violates the vast majority of residents who spoke out against it. They instead were in favor of an intermodal plan that truly connected a full range of transportation options in one area. The historic powers that be did not listen to the response of value for the “Palace”as today elected officials ignored the majority who rejected the backward looking and ugly building that will replace a beautiful one.
15. RochesterSubway.com says:

    August 26, 2012 at 10:10 pm

    Here’s the RKO Palace story on WROC… http://rochesterhomepage.net/fulltext/?nxd_id=338142
16. Michael Graves says:

    August 27, 2012 at 6:10 pm

    The destruction of the RKO Palace in order to build an apartment complex with a smaller theater was one of many architectural and cultural crimes visited on this community in the name of progress. The complex was never built and a modernized Palace would have been a great performing arts center
17. Tim Schramm says:

    August 27, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    We were lied to! Unless every brick and slab of concrete was removed from the site,there was NO WAY another structure was ever going to be built. The story I heard (and I don’t know if it’s true) is back in the 60′s when all the urban development moeney became available, the mob decided to go into the building destroying business. There was NEVER, EVER a reason for the Palace to come down, nor had they EVER planned another building to be erected there. They just simply bulldozed it in. Go to my site http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.4509682903974.187919.1347641891&type=1 and you’ll see all the pics I took.
18. Rick says:

    August 27, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    Hey Tim, I see you were there too. I went down with a camera Saturday and got some pix. Looks like they actually let you inside? Wouldn’t mind getting a brick! BTW, I was looking at your pics on FB, #10 and #35, is that the same ad painted up on the side of the building in the background?
19. David says:

    August 27, 2012 at 9:39 pm

    Wow — this is amazing! I found this courtesy of my friends at THS. Oh, how I wish this theater was still standing!
20. Greg says:

    August 28, 2012 at 7:14 am

    The RKO was one of the great ones! My grandmother took me to see ‘Old Yellar’ there.
    Saturday mornings the RPO would run ’50 cartoons’
    It’s a shame we didn’t think ahead and save these landmark along with The Paramont, Regent, Lowes, The Riveria.
21. Fred Armstrong says:

    August 28, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Great work on the article & photos. I spent a lot of time at the RKO Palace & even went to it’s last screening. My Grandma took me to see “The Shaggy Dog” there when I was very little. I remember being young and still realizing what a shame it was that they were tearing it down. I also went to the last screening at the Lowe’s Theater, The Paramount and the Liberty Theater which was in my neighborhood on Driving Park Ave. where my brother was an usher. Boy I miss those 50 cartoons on a Saturday afternoons.
22. RochesterSubway.com says:

    August 28, 2012 at 10:37 am

    @Fred, you guys should seriously do a documentary on the Palace Theater! It could be part 2 of the “End of the Line” series!
23. Fred Armstrong says:

    August 28, 2012 at 10:42 am

    I would love to, but it always comes down to funding.
24. Rick says:

    August 28, 2012 at 11:02 am

    I’d buy that video. Got “End Of the Line” a few years ago and couldn’t pull myself away, similar one on the Palace would be a good combo!
25. Jim says:

    October 10, 2012 at 8:36 am

    Great pics, and websites. Thanks to all for sharing.
    I am fortunate to have been to that theater many times before its demise, but way too young then to have known the details.
26. Dennis Stenglein says:

    October 29, 2012 at 12:44 am

    Great pictures! I was about 5 years old when the RKO came down. I don’t remember going to it. I wish I did. Just like everything else good in Rochester. Some politician has his hand in something, and is going to make a buck by getting rid of another Jewel in our city. Look at Silver Stadium. That was all politically motivated, and had nothing to do with parking, or the patron’s safety. They could have built a parking garage right there in the stadium parking lot. That beautiful facade of the Security Trust Bank, on the corner of Main and St Paul could have been built into the convention center. I am surprised they haven’t talked about tearing down the Eastman Theater. Gotta love those politicians.
27. jasen says:

    February 10, 2013 at 3:33 pm

    Does anyone remember when a temporary screen was transported into the Palace to screen a 3 projection movie call Cinerama. The Screen was huge and extended beyond both sides of the stage. The movie was a spectacular but was only shown for approximately a month. It was outstanding for its time and dwarfed Cinemascope movies of that era.
28. Skip says:

    February 21, 2013 at 1:10 pm

    Thank you for the article and pics. I remember watching vaudeville there as a kid, then was fortunate enough to work there and at the Paramount as an usher in the late 1950s.
29. kevin knapp says:

    April 26, 2013 at 8:37 pm

    What a small town berg Rochester is.I am surprised that the Wurlitzer still exists.Clunkheaded city fathers thought that tearing down a city jewel was a good idea??? Since 1965 that weed infested, never used parking lot was a testimony to the stupid decisions made as far as Rochester.(see the fast ferry,and Kodaks decision to shelve digital photography)Benvenuto Wrecking Company does not exist anymore,yet the floor of the RKO PALACE THEATER does???…..ahhhhh…justice…..The old lady just won’t die…GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!
30. kevin knapp says:

    April 26, 2013 at 8:48 pm

    “Take paradise,put up a parking lot”…could not resist.
31. kevin knapp says:

    April 26, 2013 at 8:57 pm

    Simpleton Rochester back in the day, just stood there gawking while Benvenuto wrecked a treasure!!!!!!! Typical for this dumpy city…Rochesterians ain’t the brightest bulbs on the tree…
32. Karen says:

    April 29, 2013 at 7:18 pm

    I think the song says “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot”. And they didn’t really do ANY of that… they just leveled a truly stunning architectural treasure and never even used the lot – such senseless waste. But… it stands as a sad lesson of living for the flavor of the moment (Urban Renewal) and not looking to the impact on the future.

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