The Everett Square Theatre opened in 1915 in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It was designed by Boston architect Harry M. Ramsay for the Littlefield Trust, the original owner of the theater. The 798 seat theater cost $65,000 ($1.5 million in 2014 when adjusted for inflation) to build, and was part of the M&P Theatre circuit.

While the original building permits refer to the theater as a “moving picture house,” it also hosted vaudeville and live music during its early years. Famed vaudeville comedian Milton Berle played the theater on May 25, 1925, and signed his name backstage after he finished performing. In 1933, Everett Square, where the theater was located, was renamed Logan Square, and the following year the theater was renamed the Fairmount Theatre. By the mid-1940s the theater had discontinued the live performances and only showed motion pictures.  

The Everett Square reopened as the Nu Pixie Cinema on December 26, 1969. As the theater had less than a 1,000 seat maxi-cinema, but more than a 200 seat mini-cinema, the new owner described it as a “pixie” cinema, and named it such. It was renamed Premiere Performances in the early 1980s, which brought live shows back to the theater. In the mid 1980s it was used as an auction house before being abandoned.

The building was purchased in 1986 by a group of Hyde Park business owners who intended to restore and reopen it. They formed a group called Showtime Restoration Volunteers and mounted two efforts to raise the funds for restoration, but both attempts were unsuccessful. In 2008, Hyde Park Main Streets and Historic Boston Inc. took an interest in the theater. With the help of those organizations, the owners were able to get a $30,000 grant to replicate the original sign and restore the theater’s foyer. A full restoration is estimated to cost between $5 and $10 million.

 

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