The Wilbur: A Century-Old Theater That Became Boston’s Comedy Room
Built on Tremont Street more than a century ago, the Wilbur nearly went up for sale before a comedy club owner took it over in 2008.
The Wilbur was built on Tremont Street by architect Clarence H. Blackall, in the Colonial Revival style, and opened around 1914. It spent most of its life as a playhouse in the city’s Theater District; the musical Love and Kisses premiered there in 1963.
The building’s history is protected now: it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as part of a group of Boston theaters, and the Boston Landmarks Commission designated it a Boston Landmark in 1987.
From playhouse to comedy club
In 1998 SFX Entertainment, the company that later became Live Nation, bought up Jon B. Platt’s Boston theater holdings, including the Wilbur’s lease. When that lease ended in 2006, the theater was put on the market. In 2008 Bill Blumenreich, the former owner of the Comedy Connection in Quincy Market, leased the building and renovated it.
That’s the Wilbur you know today: touring comics, live podcasts and bands in a room that still looks like an old theater. See what’s coming up at The Wilbur, or everything on the comedy page.
Sources: Wikipedia: Wilbur Theatre.
