Jersey Assembly Hall? Millions in the ceiling?

by Cassiline 12 Replies latest jw friends

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  Cassiline

  Once again a post brought back memories of a JW story or perhaps urban legend. The timeframe would have been (est.) 1975-79. Eastern US story/legend.

  I recall the story as going something like this. The WTS purchased an old theater in New Jersey to revamp into an assembly hall. There were many bids going back and fourth because the WTS said they could not afford the building but needed one to assure the brothers and sisters could convene for assemblies.

  Bottom line, they purchased the building for a higher price then what they thought they should have. During the renovations the drop ceiling was removed to reveal chandeliers worth millions of dollars. Thus Jehovah blessed the JW's for purchasing the building by providing additional funds through the sale of the chandeliers.

  Anyone remember that one?
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  blondie

  That sounds like the chandelier at the Stanley Theater. It used to be in the old Astoria Hotel that was torn down to build the Empire State Building.

  I heard this story about the land where the 25 and 30 Columbia Heights buildings stand. The WTS purchased them from the Squibb Company. Evidently, Rutherford wanted to buy the land that they were built on but the Squibb Company outbid him. But the Squibb Company found out that instead of the bedrock found normally that there was sand and it costs them thousands of dollars to put in a foundation. Then the Squibb Company went out of business (?) and sold the buildings to the WTS for $1 and because they were used for pharmaceutical purposes they were unusually clean. (I'm sure some of the details are wrong but the idea is that God manuevered this to the WTS' advantage.)
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  Cassiline

  Jim,

  You say "thats the story", did you see the chandeliers? Did you work on the project? Or are you saying it's unbelieveable because it did not happen?

  Blondie,

  The Assembly hall is still there today. I don't think it's the building you are speaking of. I honstly don't know. Just wondering if any other yank's heard the same story. Or may have seen these priceless chandeliers.
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  blondie

  Cassiline, that chandelier is in the New Jersey Assembly Hall, once known as the Stanley Theater. I have been there and the chandelier is still there in the entry way. I was there one day when they brought it down for its yearly cleaning. Some of the crystals were missing and replacements had to be tracked down. Some of the metal parts were custom made at Bethel. The auditorium was originally designed to look like an Italian piazza (not pizza) and the ceiling overhead has clouds and stars that are electronically controlled so it appears like you are outside. The WTS restored the theater to its 1928 setting and did not put in or purchase these frills. It is quite impressive. I never heard about any other chandeliers being found and sold but that doesn't sound impossible. I lived in NYC when this was being remodeled. It was quite an undertaking.
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  Cassiline

  Sorry Blondie I mis-read you. I thought you said that the building was the Astoria Hotel that was purchased by the WTS. My mistake. Apologies to you.

  So they still have the chandelier there? I was under the impression it was sold. Thanks for the information.

  Thanks too Jim!!
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  dungbeetle

  http://www.geocities.com/Athens/6911/stan.htm

  http://www2.wcoil.com/~vikings/pattrsn.html

  <There are 50 congregations in this one city in Mozambique, Africa, each one without a Kingdom Hall. Did the Society donate the money to help their OWN very poor brothers build even one hall? Why did not the society sell it's $1,000,000 chandelier in the Stanley Theater to help these unfortunate brothers and sisters have a decent, clean place to worship? Jesus had no place to lay his head, yet the WTBS has a $1,000,000 chandelier and refuses to use it for the good of even its very own members. Why does the society need to own a $1,000,000 chandelier? How does owning a $1,000,000 chandelier further the commands of the Christ? >

  (Personally I thought Watchtower cannot sell the Chandelier becasue it is protected as an antiquety, that was the deal wAtchtower had to make with the city to get it...)

  Just for more fun:

  <Although the Society already owns enough property to provide housing for its high officials, it undertook a mammoth luxury construction project in Patterson, New Jersey. The Patterson Project sits on 684 acres, and cost $50,000,000 dollars in materials alone. All labor was "donated", of course. Factoring in the labor, this project, when completed will be worth over $100,000,000 dollars. >
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  felix a

  Here's some of what I remember about the Stanley. The year was 1983 or 84 for the acquasition of the Stanley Theater in Jersey City by the WTBS.

  It was a remarkable old theater and as someone has already mentioned the interior was set up to appear as if you were in an Italian Piazza where you could look up at the ceiling and see the stars and clouds move over head in the night sky. The Society was sold the theater at what was considered to be a bargain price at the time. However, it was truly run down and had lost the luster of its glory days and its location was not what you would call a good neighborhood. The City did not want the property sold to the WTBS and removed from the tax rolls of the city, rather they wanted to find an investor that would use it to bring taxable events to the city. The city through up many road blocks to the Societies purchase and then continued to attempt to thwart their ability to make use of the property by legal shanigans.

  Shortly after the purchase of the Stanley Theater a large group of us Bethelites were sent over to make the theater usable for a meeting that was to be used to set a precedence for meetings having been held in the theater in order to beat the City at their own game of legal hijinks. So here we were in this run down and dark old theater having to clean the most disgusting restrooms I have ever seen in my life. Some of these bathrooms had shit not only on the walls and floors but also on the ceilings. We had plumbers and electrians running around making sure we had the basics to work with. We were out mopping floors and vacuuming seats and carpets all so we could have this meeting in order to grandfather in the theaters status as a meeting hall. It was just before this meeting was to take place that the lawyers on both sides settled things and the Society was left to carry on in peace.

  Some of the things we had an opportunity to see where some of the paintings that were soon to be destroyed that were found on the walls of the theater. Paintings that were based on the Roman or Greek mythologies and their gods. Paintings that were apparently worth thousands but because of the semi-nude women and men and their themes were to be destroyed rather than preserved or sold. The chandeliers were kept and restored, the ceiling was restored. This place had to have been absolutely gorgeous in its heyday. The Chandelier was an incredible piece of art, while I don't remember any drop ceilings hiding them, it doesn't mean they weren't there. However I do remember hearing about the offers to purchase thechandeliers for a million or two back when we were first remodeling the old place.

  Between the Stanley and the Albemarle theater in Brooklyn I have never reupholstered so many seats. I have alot of fond memories of those days and the people I worked along during the restoration and renovation of those to buildings.

  David
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  jst2laws

  About 17 years ago I was working as a temporary worker at Bethel in the Furman Street buildings and they had the famous chandelier two floors down being refurbished. I was told of its uniqueness and value but failed to appreciate what others saw in it.

  A couple of years latter the family visited the Stanley Theater and saw the unsettling fervor over the MATERIAL gains obtained serendipitously in the purchase of the Stanley. I saw the tears in the eyes of the sister traveling with us who now professes to be of the 'anointed'.

  The Stanley purchase and the building of the Paterson complex are landmark accomplishments of the New Governing Body since 1980. These represent to me a new phase in the evolution of the 'movement' from semi-spiritual institution to a material institution claiming to be spiritual. Very materialistic since this change, yet still brings tears to the eyes of their followers.

  Jst2laws

  Dungbeetle,

  Excellent research as usual.

  Edited by - jst2laws on 29 July 2002 1:12:27
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  Cassiline

  Thank you all for the information. I was sure I was still home during the purchse of the Stanley. I would have been a young teen. Here are some more pictures I found while surfing taken by a JW.
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  worf

  I have always lived in New York and I remember all of the information posted here about the Stanley Theatre/Jersey Assembly Hall. When it was purchased there was a lot of excitement about it. In 1988 all congs here in the NYC area went there for a one day circuit assembly so the society could show off their new acquisition. They showed slides of all the refurbishing that was done and of course in their arrogance tied all of the events associated with the purchase and refurbishing of this theatre with the Bible. And of course the fight with the city to purchase it was labeled as "persecution" and "framing mischief by law". WHAT TOTAL BULLSHIT!!!!

  And don't forget that they were so proud of this building that they created a tour guide program so they could show it off to people from all over the world. My ex-wife was and still is a tour guide there. She had a written out program and on it was detailed instructions of where to start the tour and what to talk about and how many minutes to talk about each subject.Just like a public talk outline. And the chandeliers were considered to be the "highlight" of the outline.

  Worf