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<h2>Background and History of King Manor and its Residents</h2>Rufus King, from whom this museum derives its name, was an abolitionist advocating strongly against slave&nbsp;traders. He was also an&nbsp;American founding father who signed and framed the United States of America's&nbsp;Constitution. The U.S.A. Constitution was unique in its formation as it created a one of a kind liberal democratic republic.&nbsp;Rufus King was also the first United States&nbsp;Senator to represent the State of New York which he resigned to serve as an American ambassador to Great Britain. The house was built in a Georgian style of architecture widespread in the early eighteenth century through the early nineteenth century. In its modern day incarnation, visitors will receive a guided tour that carries them from the front lobby to the library - full of books and letters of correspondence between Rufus King and his son dating back to the eighteenth century. <h2>Activities that visitors at&nbsp;King Manor Museum can do</h2> Children of all ages&nbsp;will be able to enjoy a hoop rolling relay race and a&nbsp;nineteenth-century &nbsp;game called graces where children play with&nbsp;colorful laces by throwing it to each other. They can also experiment with paper marbleizing and make seasonal objects.&nbsp;Adults can enjoy cello and violin concerts with wine. There are also family festivals held seasonally - one in the autumn and the&nbsp;other coinciding with the summer solstice.&nbsp;

This picture is a panoramic frontal view of King Manor Museum.

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King Manor - National Register of Historic Places

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The King Manor Museum is a National Historical landmark that is a picturesque yet typical Georgian eighteenth-century home on an 11-acre square block with spacious walkways surrounding it. The property was once owned by Rufus King, an American founding father, abolitionist, and ambassador to Great Britain. Guided tours are scheduled regularly in addition to specific activities tailored towards adults and children.

King Manor Museum

This historical walking tour includes historic theaters, churches, buildings, and an estate that dates back to the colonial era.

In the early 1900s, going to the movies became a popular recreational activity. The film craze started with silent movies shown in nickelodeons – so called as they only charged five cents for tickets. From 1935, Technicolor films led to a growth in theatres across the country, though they were generally smaller. It was between these two periods that the unique movie palaces of the 1920s were built. These enormous and lavishly decorated movie theatres were designed around many different themes, from Oriental temples to Parisian salons, Spanish towns to Egyptian tombs.

Marcus Loew was born in 1870, in the Lower East Side, to immigrant Austrian Jewish parents. In 1904, he started investing in his own penny arcades&nbsp;and opened his own on West 23rd Street the following year which later became a nickelodeon. He directed himself towards a career in the movie business, especially after 1909 when he acquired the Yorkville and Lincoln Square theatres from the Shubert family – the family responsible for the growth of Broadway – in which he showed vaudeville and film performances. Loew’s Theatres was founded by Marcus in 1904, through funding provided by the Shuberts. He was one of a number of entertainment magnates in New York, including Benjamin Franklin Keith, Edward Franklin Albee, William Fox, Barney Balaban, and the Katz brothers. Loew’s became one of the USA’s largest movie theatre chains and would eventually spread across the globe in the form of Loews Cineplex Entertainment – also known as AMC Theatres. Marcus Loew would also go on to establish Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in 1924, which would release Ben Hur the following year and become a world-renowned film company. 

Marcus passed away in 1927, leaving behind a company at the height of its success to his partner, Nicholas Schenck. In 1929,&nbsp;Schenck constructed five new theatres around the city, one of which was the Valencia movie palace on Jamaica Avenue. Schenck commissioned John Eberson, a specialist “atmospheric movie theatre” architect, to design the building, which cost more than two million dollars to complete. It features an ornate “Churrigueresque” (Spanish baroque) brick and terracotta façade, covered in decorative cherub busts and naturalistic ornamentation.

Inside, visitors can admire the exotic framework of buildings, statues, balconies, and screens surrounding the central stage and stretching across the side walls. The entire room gives the sense of being outside in a fantasy landscape, an effect accentuated by the ceiling of twinkling stars, caused by the clever use of lighting. The Tabernacle of Prayer has made minimal changes to the interior; the most significant of which has been to “sanctify” the nude statues by giving them clothes and angel wings. The original organ has been removed&nbsp;and is now in the Balbao Theatre, San Diego, California.

Once the largest movie theatre in Queens, the building of Loew’s Valencia Theatre currently serves as one of the most unique churches in the country.  The theatre seated up to 3,500 people. It also contained a Morton “Wonder” organ, which played accompanying music to vaudeville performances, comedians, magicians, and silent films. Ahead of its time, the theatre pioneered the use of sound equipment for a feature film with sound. Movie and stage performances were both offered until the 1950s, when a larger film screen was installed and the stage performances were discontinued. However, during the 1960s the theatre struggled to gather a large enough audience to fill each film showing, and by the 1970s, the Valencia could not compete with the rise of television and modern cinemas. In 1977, the structure was acquired by the Tabernacle of Prayer, who turned it into a church, which it still is today. It became a designated landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1999.

Loew's Valencia Theatre

Located on 160th Street, La Casina was a nightclub opened in 1933 in Jamaica, New York at the end of Prohibition. Jamaica, which is part of Queens County, was one of the first settlements in New York. Thanks to its central location in the county, Jamaica became a cultural and economic center by the early 20th century. La Casina, however, would only have a short life, closing by 1940 when the owner, Arnold Behrer, lost the title to the property.&nbsp; After La Casina was closed, the property was awarded to the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. In 1942, the property was sold to another church, and it was sold again in 1946 to a manufacturer of women's bras. The Ellen Howard Corporation purchased the building in 1952, using it to manufacture bathing suits. &nbsp;This company left in 1987, and the building was neglected until it was purchased in 1989 by the Greater Jamaica Development Corporation. Between 1994 and 1995, the building was restored by Li-Saltzman, an architectural firm. The firm removed aluminum siding, added in the 1960s or 1970s, replaced galvanized iron which had deteriorated, and changed the colors of the building back to the original colors. &nbsp;The original plate-glass windows, which had been replaced with glass-block windows, were added back as well. Today, the building serves as an example of Streamlined Moderne architecture, popular in the 1930s. The building is characterized by the ziggurat rooftop and its two-tiered facade. The bottom portion of the building is lined with half gray and half coral stucco. The wood and glass double doors at the entrance are the original doors from the building. La Casina was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1990. It is currently occupied by the Jamaica Business Resource&nbsp;Center.&nbsp;

La Casina was a nightclub and restaurant built in 1933 in Jamaica, New York.  The steel and glass building was designed in a Streamlined Moderne architectural style, which was popular in the 1930s. The nightclub closed down sometime between 1938 and 1940 when the owner of the club, Arnold Behrer, lost the property rights to the building. The building served several other purposes after the nightclub left. Today, it is used by the Jamaica Business Resource Center.  It was put on the National Register of Historical Places in 1990. 

La Casina

A cemetery&nbsp;surrounds&nbsp;the Grace Episcopal Church, which includes burials dating back to 1734. The cemetery contains the remains of Rufus King (1755–1827), Charles King (1789–1867), and William Duer (1747–1799). Rufus King was elected to the first United States Senate in 1789 by New York State. He also became the Minister to England by appointment of George Washington in 1796. Rufus King and his family were active supporters of the Grace Episcopal Church.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp; The Church’s history can be traced back to 1702 when missionary ministers were sent from the Society of Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, an English organization. They were sent because there was a request from a group of Jamaican residents, who desired a place to worship. The missionaries led worship in the county courthouse until 1733, when the missionaries were given half an acre on which they erected their first church building in 1734. The Church's property was later enlarged from gifts and purchases. The Grace Episcopal Church was actually the third Church built on the property site. The Church officially became a New York City landmark in 1967 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Grace Episcopal Church Complex was built between 1861 and 1862. It was built out of rough-cut sandstone. It has a steeply pitched roof and tall, sharp spire that was made in the Gothic Revival style. The original architect of the church was Dudley Field. There were additions to this church in the 1900s, which included a chancel in 1901 and a parish house in 1912. The chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary; it is located at the rear of the church. The chancel was made between 1901 and 1902 and was designed by Cady, Berg & See. The parish house, called the Grace Memorial House, is a three-story building made in the Tudor Revival style. 

Walking Tour of Queens - Jamaica Neighborhood

King Manor Museum

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Background and History of King Manor and its Residents

Activities that visitors at King Manor Museum can do

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