United Palace
theater in Manhattan, New York City, US
The United Palace (originally Loew's 175th Street Theatre) is a theater at 4140 Broadway in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, United States. The theater, occupying a city block between Broadway, Wadsworth Avenue, and West 175th and 176th Streets, is both a house of worship and a cultural center. Thomas W. Lamb designed the theater as a movie palace, which opened on February 22, 1930, as one of five Loew's Wonder Theatres in the New York City area. The theater's interior decor, incorporating elements of numerous architectural styles, was supervised by Lamb and Harold Rambusch. Like the other Wonder Theaters, the United Palace features a "Wonder Morton" theater pipe organ manufactured by the Robert Morton Organ Company.
The theater was built specifically to present films and live shows, the latter of which were discontinued shortly after the theater opened. The theater operated until 1969, when the television evangelist Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II, better known as Reverend Ike, acquired it. The theater became the headquarters of his United Church Science of Living Institute and was renamed the United Palace. Latin American music acts began using the theater in the 1990s, and the United Church began renting the theater out as an event venue in 2007.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “United Palace” as theater in Manhattan, New York City, US. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as theater in Manhattan, New York City, US. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7889018. The first chronological checks are 1930, 1969 and 2007.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “United Palace”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow United Palace primary sources, United Palace archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “United Palace”?
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- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “United Palace” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.