History of the Garde

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Garde Arts Center was created in 1985 as a non-profit performing arts organization in order to save and reuse the historic Garde theatre, one of the few remaining historic movie palaces in Connecticut. Built in 1926 during the golden era of the motion pictures and vaudeville theatres, the recently restored Moroccan interior of the Garde Theatre, along with the new seats and state-of-the-art stage equipment, provide a very audience-friendly theatre venue in a warm and beautiful atmosphere. Today the Garde is becoming nationally recognized for its unique architecture and multi-faceted programming.

In fact, the Garde Arts Center is not just the Garde Theatre, but has become an "arts block" of historic buildings all being transformed into a multi-space center for arts, education, commerce, and community events. The four-story Garde Office Building, for decades one of the most desired professional and commercial buildings in New London, has been transformed into expanded lobbies, function halls, and the box office. The three-story Mercer Building provides offices for Garde administration and a historic function hall due slated to become a small second performance space. The one-story Meridian Building houses commercial businesses and stage support space.

The Garde, Meridian and Mercer buildings were all built between 1924 and 1926 on the site of the baronial mansion of whaling merchant William Williams. The Garde Theatre sits on a portion of the Williams estate that had been purchased from the Williams family by Theodore Bodenwein, the founder of The Day newspaper. The newspaper magnate sold the land to the new theatre developers in order so that something would be built "for the good of New London." The theatre was built during the height of the movie palace era as a "photoplay house" by architect Arland Johnson, under the direction of Arthur Friend, a New York movie studio attorney who at the time was building six movie houses in Connecticut and Massachusetts. Named after Walter Garde, a Hartford and New London businessman, the Garde Theatre opened on September 22, 1926, and was called by the press of that time one of the finest theatres in New England. The theatre was a stage for vaudeville as well: variety acts of music, comedy, acrobats and magic, interspersed between the showing of feature films, comedy shorts, and newsreels.

For decades the Garde Theatre played a central role in the community life of New London and Southeastern Connecticut. Its ornate Moroccan interior, giant screen, and marvelous acoustics ensured that Warner Bros., who purchased the Garde for $1 million in 1929, would maintain it as one of the region's most stunning and viable movie theaters.

As New London faced the growing competition from suburbanization and malls leading to a decline in its economic health, so to the Garde, in the '60s and '70s, fell victim to declining retail, malls, multiplex cinemas, and television. Sold by Warner Bros. in 1978, the Garde was protected by a series of caretakers and users until the newly created non-profit Garde Arts Center, Inc purchased it in 1985 for $300,000.

In 1987, the Eastern CT Symphony Orchestra made the Garde its new home. 1988, the Garde hired its first executive director, Steve Sigel, and began presenting a full spectrum of performing arts series: dance, musical theatre, contemporary music, and family events. The following year the State of Connecticut awarded $750,000 to replace the theatre heating and air-conditioning system. The Mercer and Meridian buildings were purchased in 1993. In the summer of 1994, movies were added to the Garde's live programming. That year began a $15.75 million fundraising effort - Campaign for the Garde 2000 - to restore and expand the theatre. The renovation of the Garde began in 1997 with the expansion of the Garde lobbies. The original Garde lobbies were two small areas on the orchestra and balcony level without any concession counters and with only one set of restrooms on the balcony level. The lobby expansion, designed by Centerbrook Architects (CT), was completed in 1998 providing much-needed additional lobby space and amenities, as well as code-required safety needs and wheelchair and elevator access. In October 1998, the Garde opened with its new lobbies and storefronts and, one year later, the theatre opened with the theatre interior restored.

The Garde's original Moorish decor and palatial design of the theatre and lobby was typical of "exotic" movie palaces of the 1920's that attempted to create a far-off land of mystery, romance and glamour. The Egyptian, Oriental, and Aztec themes of many movie palaces reflect the fascination of that time with archaeological discoveries and lost worlds. The overall affect was to treat ordinary citizens of the depression era like royalty providing them a true Hollywood escape from their daily lives. Audiences of that era came to see the theatre as much as the movie.

Garde Theater circa 1927
The lobby design cleverly incorporates new architecture to meet contemporary audience and building needs while directly connecting to the restored Moorish interior of the original lobby spaces. The original lobby entrance, a steep and narrow foyer, was replaced with a new at-grade entrance at the west side of the building on adjacent land the Garde acquired. The new lobby was created out of three storefronts of the Garde Office Building, which were originally separated from the former theatre lobby by massive brick and concrete walls. A floor was inserted in the middle of the high-ceiling storefronts for new and expanded restrooms and two large curved concession stands. A new entryway into the auditorium was added on the east side of the restrooms. The lower portion of the former storefront space is an additional lower lobby, accessible by elevator and a curved stair. At the balcony level a floor of offices occupied last by Garde administration was connected to the balcony lobby and became the new Oasis Room, a 3500 sq. ft function hall and catering kitchen. Each lobby floor has direct access to a new elevator and stairway.

Garde Lobby before renovation

Marquee & entrance before renovation
The firm of Hannivan and Company, from Toronto, oversaw the restoration of the lobbies and auditorium. In October 1995, David and Patti Hannivan came to the Garde to research the original finishes of the Garde theatre and lobbies. At the time all the walls and ceilings, except for the ceiling of the auditorium, were painted white. Much of the plaster and brickwork was badly damaged by weather and overpainting making a return to the original impossible without causing further destruction.

Since there were no exact descriptions, drawings or pictures of the original theatre design, the Hannivans had to scrape and explore wall, ceiling and floor surfaces to uncover what the original designs and color schemes might have been. Where there was no direct evidence of pre-existing designs, the Hannivans were asked to carry out the intent of the original. The actual restoration was done by a crew of young people trained by Hannivan including students from Lyme Academy of Fine Arts, and the community at large.


Dan Morse, Renovation Manager with newly discovered mural	David Hannivan, Hannivan & Co. instructs mural painters

The restored part of the original Garde Theatre begins in the Kitchings Family Lobbies, entered from the new lobbies. The murals on the side walls depicting Mediterranean of the old lobby are based on the discovery made in the summer of 1998 of the western mural that had been hidden for 60 years. The east mural is a new complementary design since no documentation of the original has yet been found. Scenic painter Elaine Mills of Stonington restored the side murals. The African masks above the murals were recast by local sculptor Jennifer Collins from an original remaining in the upper lobby. The "gates of the city" at the center of the grand staircase is a new design by the Hannivans executed by the local crew. The fountain is also a new concept in the style of the old.

Relocating former restrooms to a corridor entry to the Oasis Room expanded the upper lobby now called the Pfizer Mezzanine. The newly available spaces house a private reception room on the west side - the Moroccan Room - and a new bar on the east side. The distinctive North African masks over the entryways to the balcony are original.

Photo of 2nd floor offices under construction
The Garde auditorium is a classic atmospheric theatre. The architecture and decorative elements have a feeling of a distant place, specifically that of Northern Africa. These elements are reminiscent of Islamic art and architecture in its simpler period when Bedouin Arab influences prevailed, and lead to later stages when the influences of Persia and greater opulence began to dominate.

When the audience sat down in their seats, they are transported to a palace in Morocco or a temple in Marrakech. Exotic bas-reliefs murals adorn the auditorium sidewalls depicting caravans traveling along the desert to ports of call, dancers in their colorful attire, and ladies browsing in the market place for the unusual. The stencil work on the ceiling and balcony are reminiscent of palace and temple ceilings and the design is similar to Bedouin carpet patterns. The murals on the side walls of the lower auditorium and balcony levels are unique to the Garde Theatre. Unlike other theatres where the murals are located primarily on the sounding boards as a picture, the murals in the Garde play a much more intricate part of the theater's decoration. They are distinctive in that they are not a flat one-dimensional picture, but a combination of traditional painting method and bas-relief. Even though two methods are being used the style remains quite loose and spontaneous overall. The bas-relief has been used primarily for the figures of people and animals while the other details (mountains, sand dunes, and sky) have been painted.

The artist who originally created the murals was Vera Leeper. This theater is the only left that has her work. Extensive research has failed to come up with any more than a single photo of one auditorium wall with her mural. She devoted her later years to teaching Native American children in the Southwest.

The following is an extract from an article written about her work from The New London Day, September 1, 1926:

Something new is found in the interior decoration of the Garde theatre in that the cement walls and ceilings are finished without artificial filling. The color scheme is devoid of bright gilt but is of pleasing quiet tone, giving a cool effect, with designs and scenes from the Orient. The ceiling background is of a dull orange color with the beam work standing cut with quiet Oriental designs in figures. On either side wall are depicted desert scenes with a beautiful perspective on a mountainous background brought out in harmonious contrast to the foreground desert effect. In panels on either side of the interior are portraits separate in themselves but in harmony with the general decoration plans.

The interior decorating was done by Miss Vera Leeper of Denver, Colorado. Clad in knickers and painter's frock she could be seen day after day adeptly crawling along and through the mass of stage work that completely filled the interior of the theatre during the decorating work.

Through the work of Miss Leeper the Garde theatre is the first in the country to be decorated by means of a commercial product known as morene and applied with a knife instead of a brush. The new substance is mixed with colors to obtain the desired color effect and plastered on the rough cement walls with a knife, giving the effect of a bas relief, a distinct advantage over the flat paint scheme. Patrons of the new theatre will be astonished when they see for themselves the magnitude of Miss Leeper's art.

The restoration of the auditorium had to incorporate as unobtrusively as possible contemporary lighting and sound technology. The biggest challenge was a variable acoustical treatment to "tune" the hall to everything from symphony to rock to Broadway. Jaffe Holden Scarbrough Acoustics Inc., with the assistance of Sachs Morgan Studio, theater consultants from New York, devised a stunning decorative concept of Moroccan-style arches and valences that would frame retractable curtains without impairing and even enhancing the historic design of the interior. A series of filigree arches with custom made decorative ornamental plaster finishes around the sides and rear of the orchestra seats create a Moroccan courtyard effect from which desert scenes can be seen in the distance. The arches are designed to provide additional acoustic enhancement and to carry curtains, which can be opened or closed depending on the performance. A new acoustical wall was installed in front of the projection booth with side pockets into which curtains can be withdrawn. Angled walls were built in to the side of the stage proscenium and on the face of the balcony to better disperse sound. The actual sound system consists of three speakers directly over the balcony, nine speakers under the balcony and a cluster of speakers across the top of the proscenium.

The seating was decreased from 1511 to 1458 or 1488, when removable seats are used in the orchestra pit area. The new orchestra-seating layout has wider seats, curved aisles and staggered rows to improve audience viewing. New carpeting, a new chandelier and house lighting, new stage lighting, a sprinkler system, new electrical systems for sound and lights, and new auditorium entries and exits round were added.

Future renovations include stage expansion, new dressing rooms, a small 144 seat theatre, and refurbished offices.

The new Garde facilities are perfect for weddings, meetings, dinners, parties and a variety of social and business events from 20 to 1400 people. For details call (860) 444-4409 or Email: event@gardearts.org.

For information about how you can help maintain and improve the Garde Theatre, please call (860) 444-4430 or Email: development@gardearts.org.

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Garde Arts Center: 325 State Street; New London, CT 06320; Tickets 860-444-7373; info@gardearts.org