Sag Harbor Cinema Arts Center
Historic Restoration
Project Overview
Since the 1930s, the Sag Harbor Cinema has been a landmark on lively Main Street in Sag Harbor, NY. The one-story, 468-seat theater, formerly one of the country’s few remaining single-screen arthouse cinemas, welcomed moviegoers with its iconic neon sign and façade by architect John Eberson, an accomplished designer of atmospheric theaters in the Art Deco style. However, an early-morning fire in December 2016 devastated the historic cinema, destroying all but two rear walls.
From the ashes, a community-driven partnership developed to build the cinema anew, balancing modern programs and needs with a preserved historic legacy. The result restored the historic streetscape, salvaged period elements from the fire, and expanded the cinema’s role in the village of Sag Harbor.
The front façade was rebuilt, and the neon sign restored, to match the historic Eberson design and preserve its complimentary scale along Main Street. Behind it, set back and invisible from the street, rises a new three-story structure housing three new theaters: two created by dividing the main hall and served by a common projection room, and a third on the second floor, tucked behind the main façade.
Inside the theaters, 70 cast-iron panels were salvaged from the fire and reinstalled with integral aisle lighting at the ends of seating rows. Original fabric wallcoverings were recreated as well, with a botanical pattern matching the original design.
With a new bar and lounge, café, educational space, art galleries and two outdoor roof terraces — all within the existing building footprint — the new, state-of-the-art cinematheque now functions as a de facto arts center, giving the village more opportunities to gather and interact. Funded entirely by historic preservation grants and community donations ranging from 35 cents to more than a million dollars, the project revives the spirit of the old cinema while creating a contemporary arts destination, beckoning from behind a familiar neon beacon on Main Street.
Project photography © billy economou
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