William Harold Lee (December 9, 1884 – February 3, 1971) was an American 20th century

movie theater A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...

designer and later the chief architect for Eastern College. He was a protégé of acclaimed

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Frank Furness Frank Heyling Furness (November 12, 1839 - June 27, 1912) was an American architect of the Victorian era. He designed more than 600 buildings, most in the Philadelphia area, and is remembered for his diverse, muscular, often unordinarily scaled b ...

. Lee attended

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

for a year, before transferring to the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

where he studied architecture. During his career, Lee designed numerous theaters and several buildings at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then called Ba ...

Franklin and Marshall College Franklin & Marshall College (F&M) is a private liberal arts college in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It employs 175 full-time faculty members and has a student body of approximately 2,400 full-time students. It was founded upon the merger of Frankli ...

. Many of his theaters have only recently begun to receive critical recognition, and while some of his greatest theaters have been demolished, such as the

Astor Theater The Astor Theatre was located at 1537 Broadway, at West 45th Street in Times Square in New York City. It opened September 21, 1906, with Shakespeare's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' and continued to operate as a Broadway theatre until 1925. From 1 ...

Reading, Pennsylvania Reading ( ; Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Reddin'') is a city in and the county seat of Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The city had a population of 95,112 as of the 2020 census and is the fourth-largest city in Pennsylvania after Philade ...

and Victoria Theatre in

Shamokin, Pennsylvania Shamokin (; Saponi Algonquian languages, Algonquian ''Schahamokink'', meaning "place of eels") (Unami language, Lenape Indian language: Shahëmokink) is a city in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, United Sta ...

. In most cases those which still exist today are being restored. These include the Anthony Wayne in

Wayne, Pennsylvania Wayne is an unincorporated community centered in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on the Main Line, a series of highly affluent Philadelphia suburbs located along the railroad tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the wealthiest areas ...

, the Majestic Theatre in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

, the Bryn Mawr Theatre in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It i ...

, the Hiway Theatre in

Jenkintown, Pennsylvania Jenkintown is a borough in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It is approximately 10 miles (16 km) north of Center City Philadelphia. History The community was named for William Jenkins, a Welsh pioneer settler. Jenkintown is located just ...

, the

Lansdowne Theatre Lansdowne Theatre is a historic theatre building located at Lansdowne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1927, and consists of a two-story front section with street level shops and offices above, and a 1,400 seat auditorium. It was de ...

Lansdowne, Pennsylvania Lansdowne is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, located southwest of the Center City Philadelphia. It was named for the Marquess of Lansdowne. As of the 2010 census the borough had a population of 10,620. Lansdowne grew quickly in the ...

, and the Landis Theater in

Vineland ''Vineland'' is a 1990 novel by Thomas Pynchon, a postmodern fiction set in California, United States in 1984, the year of Ronald Reagan's reelection.Knabb 2002 Through flashbacks by its characters, who have lived the sixties in their youth, th ...

, New Jersey. In 1920, Lee was commissioned for the renovation of the

Walnut Street Theatre The Walnut Street Theatre, founded in 1809 at 825 Walnut Street, on the corner of S. 9th Street in the Washington Square West neighborhood of Philadelphia, is the oldest operating theatre in the United States. The venue is operated by the Walnut ...

at 9th and Walnut Streets in Philadelphia. The Walnut, a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, is the oldest theater in the United States in continuous operation.

The Royal Theatre ''The Royal Theatre'' is the third studio album by Scottish group Ballboy Ball boys and ball girls, also known as ball kids are individuals, usually human youths but sometimes List of dog sports, dogs, who retrieve and supply balls for pl ...

at 1524 South Street in Philadelphia, was designed in two phases. Architect Frank E. Hahn designed the exterior in 1920, and Lee contributed the design of the interior in 1925. The two designs represent divergent styles of architecture, with Lee's

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

-inspired

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

interior at odds with Hahn's exterior. Lee frequently used the Art Deco style to modernize theaters designed in more traditional styles. Lee designed the

Pennypack Theatre The Penypack Theatre is an historic Art Deco style movie house located on the 8000 block of Frankford Avenue of Holmesburg in the northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Built in 1929 and designed by architect William Harold Lee, the the ...

in Art Deco style, located on the 8000 block of Frankford Avenue of Holmesburg. In 1928, Lee designed the

Sedgwick Theater The Sedgwick Theater is a historic American theater in the Mt. Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was built in 1928 and designed by architect William Harold Lee. It is one of the remaining 20 Philadelphia theaters which he de ...

, 7133-41

Germantown Avenue Germantown Pike (also known as Germantown Avenue for a portion of its length) is a historic road in Pennsylvania that opened in 1687, running from Philadelphia northwest to Collegeville. The road is particularly notable for the "imposing mansi ...

in Philadelphia. Lee used Art Deco elements in combination with traditional building detailing.

Gallery

LansdowneTheatre.JPG,

7135 Germantown.JPG, Sedgwick Theatre Seville Theater exterior.JPG, The Seville Theater, now known as the

Bryn Mawr Film Institute Bryn Mawr Film Institute is a non-profit, community-supported movie theater located in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, a town on Philadelphia's Philadelphia Main Line, Main Line. It re-opened in March 2005, with Ben Kingsley present, and currently has ov ...

External links

Philadelphia Architects and Buildings profileCinema Treasures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, William Harold 1884 births 1971 deaths American theatre architects