United Palace

The United Palace (originally Loew's 175th Street Theatre) is a theater at 4140 Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The theater, occupying a city block between Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue, and West 175th and 176th Streets, is both a house of worship and a cultural center. Thomas W. Lamb designed the theater as a movie palace, which opened on February 22, 1930, as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. The theater's interior decor, incorporating elements of numerous architectural styles, was supervised by Lamb and Harold Rambusch. Like the other Wonder Theaters, the United Palace features a "Wonder Morton" theater pipe organ manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company, though the organ is no longer operable.

The theater was built specifically to present films and live shows, the latter of which were discontinued shortly after the theater opened. The theater operated until 1969, when the television evangelist Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike, acquired it. The theater became the headquarters of his United Church Science of Living Institute and was renamed the United Palace. Latin American music acts began using the theater in the 1990s, and the United Church began renting the theater out as an event venue in 2007. Various parts of the theater, such as the movie screen and sound system, have been upgraded gradually during the 2010s and 2020s.

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the building as a city landmark in 2016. The church is called the United Palace of Spiritual Arts, and it offers performing arts events through the United Palace of Cultural Arts. When the Loew's 175th Street Theatre was in operation, Hollywood stars appeared at the theater to host films. In addition to concerts, the theater hosts other events such as graduation ceremonies, film shoots, meetings, and recording sessions. Critics have written about the mixture of architectural styles used in the building's design.

The theater was designed by Thomas W. Lamb and occupies a full city block in Washington Heights, Manhattan, between Broadway, 175th Street, Wadsworth Avenue, and 176th Street. The structure is divided into two sections: the auditorium portion, which occupies much of the block, and the retail and office portion, which occupies the northwestern corner and runs parallel to Broadway. The Loew's 175th Street Theatre was one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area, along with the Jersey Theatre in Jersey City, the Paradise Theatre in the Bronx, the Kings Theatre in Brooklyn, and the Valencia Theatre in Queens. Along with the Valencia and Paradise, the United Palace is one of three Wonder Theatres that are used as churches in the 21st century. The United Palace was also the last Wonder Theatre to be completed and the only one without a specific architectural style.

The United Palace is one of three theaters in New York that were designed by Lamb with Asian–influenced decorations. The other two theaters are the State Theatre in Syracuse and the Pitkin Theatre in Brooklyn; the designs of both the 175th Street and Pitkin theaters are derived partially from the State Theatre. The United Palace's design also incorporates elements of Aztec, Classical, Egyptian, Islamic, Mayan, and Mughal architecture. Lamb himself wrote that he used exotic decorations to stimulate visitors' minds. At the time of the United Palace's construction, the American public was increasingly becoming interested in Asian culture. A writer for The New York Times Magazine stated that the design may have been inspired by both the Alhambra palace and the Kailasa Temple.

The United Palace has an ornate terracotta facade. Similarly to the Pitkin Theater, the United Palace's facade is decorated with niches, pilasters, and panels with curving and geometric motifs; the facade also bore similarities to that of the demolished Loew's Triboro Theatre in Queens. The facade is decorated with hexagonal shapes in a pattern known as muqarnas. There is a cupola or prayer tower, topped by a star, above the northeast corner of the roof. The elaborate ornamentation was intended to entice patrons inside. The historian Ben M. Hall wrote that the theater was "built to be viewed—and admired—from all sides" because there were decorations on all four elevations of the facade.

The entrance protrudes from the western, or Broadway, elevation of the facade. The theater's entrance is at the southern end of the facade's Broadway elevation. There is a marquee wrapping around the chamfer at the theater's southwest corner. Underneath the marquee are two recessed sets of doors made of bronze and glass, as well as a soffit with lights. Between the two sets of doors are a ticket booth with a marble base and bronze frames, topped by cusped arches. There are rusticated blocks with elaborate terracotta ornamentation on either side of the doorways, as well as a signboard above the doorways. Above the marquee is a terracotta panel shaped like a ziggurat. The central panel, in turn, is flanked by two pairs of pilasters with ornate capitals, and there is a niche between each pair of pilasters. A vertical sign is mounted in front of the pilasters to the right (south). The top of the entrance pavilion on Broadway is decorated with an elaborate parapet. There is a smaller two-story pavilion to the left (north) of the main entrance, which has display cases at ground level and a pointed arch with a niche on the second story.

The auditorium has a seven-story-high facade on 176th Street to the north, which occupies the eastern portion of the block. At ground level are four doorways, some display cases, and recessed panels surrounded by terracotta frames. The westernmost portion of the auditorium facade on 176th Street contains windows on the second through seventh stories. The rest of the facade has no windows. Terracotta pilasters divide the upper stories vertically into several wide bays; the theater's cupola rises above the eastern end of the building. The eastern elevation on Wadsworth Avenue has rusticated facade at ground level, with doorways and blind window openings. The upper section of the Wadsworth Avenue facade has a fire escape but is otherwise similar in design to the remaining elevations of the facade. The marquee above the main entrance on Broadway wraps around to the southern elevation on 175th Street.