Have you ever looked at a place, building or street in the present and wondered what it might have looked like 10, 50 or 100 years ago? I do this also. I am trying to find these pictures to show what the same area looked like in the past. If you have any before and after or then and now pictures to share please send them my way with as much of a detailed description as possible. This is our history and our present.
Pictures of places in Dominican Republic showing older pictures of the past with the same place in present time.
Then & Now – Casa de las Academias – Casa de Lilís
Casa de las Academias also known as Casa de Lilís is a unique building with a beautiful French-style balcony. It was at one time the home of President Ulises Heureaux, then the Oficinas de la Aduanas (Customs offices) and now the Casa de las Academias.
These pictures are from 1917 and, 100 years later, in 2017.
Oficinas de la Aduanas before Casa del dictador Ulises Heureaux 1917
This was the home of Ulises Hilarión Heureaux Lebert and family. His nickname was Lilís. Heureaux was president of the Dominican Republic from 1 September 1882 to 1 September 1884, from 6 January to 27 February 1887 and again from 30 April 1889 maintaining power between his terms until his assassination by Ramon Caceres. (Wikipedia- Ulises Heureaux)
Casa de las Academias 2017
The building, located on Calle Las Mercedes, is now home to the Casa de las Academias is known as the Seat of the Academies of History, Language and Sciences/ Sede de las Academias de Historia, de la Lengua y de la Ciencias.
The once splendid Cinema Leonor, subsequently called Multicine Colonial, was one of the many theaters in the Colonial Zone area. This theatre, at one time showing all the popular films of the time, later turned into a parking garage and now lies abandoned.
The old Cine Leonor on Calle Arzobispo Nouel at 19 de Marzo, Ciudad Colonial, Santo Domingo.
Cine Leonor
The front entrance to Cine Leonor 1970
The Cine Leonor, with its classic Baroque-style facade, inaugurated on August 16, 1956. This first-class cinema had a grand second-floor arcade, large balcony and private seating stalls with retractable seats plus a special area for smokers. The theater was air-conditioned and had a large entrance hall and ticket office.
A view of the second floor arcade of the Multicine Colonial. You can still see some of the name.
Leonor was a large cinema for its time and held sizable crowds that wanted to come, escape ordinary life, to enjoy a popular movie. During the theater’s heyday there was a Sunday matinee plus their usual schedule showing 2 movies every evening.
A view of the second floor arcade of the Cine Leonor, later La Colonial
Mulitcine Colonial
Multicine Colonial Leonor Teatro El Resplandor (The Shining) on marquis 1980
The new Colonial Cinema was inaugurated on December 25, 1980. Along with the name change, the theater was split into 4 smaller rooms, 2 on the ground floor and 2 on the second floor.
The entrance floor tiles are still visible, Leonor
The cinema closed in the early 1990s. Now the building is in ruins. They have abandoned the once splendid movie theater turned parking garage. You can still see the name Leonor on the floor tiles at the entrance of the building. Looking inside, it is dark and dismal. I can’t imagine that this derelict building was previously a high-class theater.
The interior of Cine Leone around 1965
Location
– Calle Arzobispo Noel at 19 de Marzo, Ciudad Colonial, Santo Domingo.
Then & Now / Antes & Ahora – Cine Capitolio is now Capitolio Market Place.
Teatro-Cine Capitolio
Cine Capitolio was built in 1925 by Juan Bautista del Toro, it was the first cinema / movie theater in the Dominican Republic.
Cine Capitolio in 1945. This was the first movie theater in Dominican Republic.
The theater first showed silent movies, the first was “Los Enemigos de la Mujer”, then progressed to playing “talkies”. When this occurred they lost many movie goers because most of the films were in English. Finally, they presented the Mexican produced film “Charros y Manolas”, the first film they showed in the Spanish language. The theater was back in business and the cine boomed until the mid 1960’s when they closed the doors for good.
Capitolio Market Place
Capitolio Market Place the original home of the Teatro-Cine Capitolio.
The building, once named Columbus Plaza, is called Capitolio Market Place. This 3 level gift shop house different retail shops, gift shops, food and cigar vendors and also have a restaurant with a daily buffet.
All You Want To Know About The Oldest City In The Americas
I see you are using an ad blocker.
My web site and blogs are privately run. I am not part of any company or government site. I pay for everything on my own so I can share information about Dominican Republic that can be helpful and fun. I am sharing with everyone the information I learned for your benefit and to try and help you enjoy this beautiful Caribbean country.
Please support this website by adding my site to your whitelist in your ad blocker. Visit and support my advertisers. Revenue from Ads are what pay my bills, server fees and keep this web site on line.
If you want to continu to block ads then please consider making a donation to jan@colonialzone-dr.com via PayPal.