Henry G. Greene, 93; Designed Center That Included Shubert Theatre

Architect Henry George Greene, who designed the ABC Entertainment Center in Century City, a complex that included the Shubert Theatre and several movie theaters, has died. He was 93.

Greene died March 13 of natural causes at his home in Scarsdale, N.Y., according to Sandra Engelson, his longtime administrative assistant.

Greene’s design for the Century City complex, built in 1972 and demolished 30 years later, represented a particular era in entertainment center design. Earlier, stage and movie theaters were usually built in urban neighborhoods.

“The ‘60s saw a move to suburbia,” said Andreas Fuchs, coauthor of “Cinema Treasures,” a book on the history of movie theaters. “The idea was to develop entire areas, not just pop a theater in,” he said.

Greene was a consulting architect for ABC in the 1960s and ‘70s and designed about 80 movie theaters for the company. Perhaps his best-known work was the Cine Capri in Phoenix, completed in 1966. The theater’s huge, curved screen and sloped floor gave viewers an unobstructed view.

From the first movie screened there, “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” the theater featured blockbusters. The Cine Capri was torn down in 1998, despite a protest by about 250,000 fans.

Demolition of the ABC Entertainment Center began four years later after a “wrecking ball party” held by the Shubert Organization. The ABC headquarters moved to Burbank in 2002.

The Cine Capri and the ABC Entertainment complex were leading examples of modern, unadorned theater architecture typical of their era. “The next wave of theater building came in the late ‘70s,” said Richard Sklenar, executive director of the Theatre Historical Society of America in Elmhurst, Ill. “Most movie theaters from the late ‘70s are made of cement blocks.”

Greene was born in New York City and graduated from New York University. He built several shopping malls in the Westchester, N.Y., area, including the Midway Shopping Complex. He also converted a number of New York City commercial buildings into residential apartments, including buildings on Water Street in the financial district and Mercer Street in SoHo.

Greene’s first wife died in 1975. His second wife died in 1993. He is survived by two children, two grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.