SACRED HOUSES: PAVILION/NITEHAWK, BROOKLYN

“Sacred Houses Series”
This month, we would like to pay homage to The Pavilion (now Nitehawk) Cinema in the Prospect Park neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, as we continue to celebrate and honor notable movie theaters around the globe.

The Pavilion Theater’s story is a tale of three. It began as the Marathon Theatre later renamed the Sanders Theatre in 1908. The Sanders Theatre, adorned in the Moorish style, accommodated 1,516 patrons. It operated for five decades before closing its doors in 1978 and remaining unused for nearly two decades.

The Sanders Theater was taken over by a new operator in September 1995. After renovations, it reopened in 1996 as the Pavilion Theatre with three screens, where it continued to operate for two decades. By October 2004, it had been converted into a nine-screen cinema. In September 2016, Nitehawk announced plans to open a second location, Nitehawk Prospect Park, in Park Slope.

Nitehawk Prospect Park underwent renovations from 2016 to 2017, costing “less than $10 million”. Originally scheduled to reopen in the fall of 2017, the renovation was delayed due to the discovery of historic elements from the Sanders Theater during demolition. It finally reopened on December 19, 2018. The theater now features seven screens, 650 seats, two kitchens, and two bars. The building’s exterior remains mostly unchanged, with the addition of a new marquee and an enlargement of its windows. Nitehawk Prospect Park continues to operate as a cinema today. You can find more information about them HERE.

If you think a theater deserves recognition in our “Sacred Houses” series, kindly contact us with details of its name, location, and significance to either you or your community. We’re enthusiastic about backing local theaters and feel they should be celebrated alongside the more renowned historic venues.