Sanderson Theater

The Julia Sanderson Theater (originally the Paramount Theatre) at 1676-1708 Main Street in downtown Springfield is a four-story tan brick building with limestone trim, designed in the Classical Revival style. The office and commercial section facing Main and Gridiron Streets was built in 1912 on the site of the former Massasoit House hotel, and the 3,200-seat theater behind it was built in 1926-1929 by the Ernest F. Carlson Company to designs by New York theater designer A. W. Johnson. The theater was the last of Springfield's big downtown theaters and the first in the region designed expressly for sound pictures, featuring innovations such as a scientific air-cooling system, a rising organ console platform, and a balcony carried on a 100-foot steel beam. It attracted Class A films and vaudeville stars and was renamed in 1975 for Springfield-born Broadway and radio star Julia Sanderson. The property is significant for its role in the city's cultural and social life, its Classical Revival architecture, and its association with theater and music.

Sanderson Theater is a landmark in Springfield, Hampden County. It is one of 3,654 landmarks documented in Hampden County, among 3,815 historic sites cataloged across the county on MassRoam.

The site sits at 42.1044, -72.5948 near Springfield. The nearest cataloged historic site is Terminal Building (landmark), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Chapin National Bank Building, Boston and Albany Railroad Bridge over Main Street, and Hampden Savings Bank.

This record is drawn from public historical records. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.