La Dome — historic Newark landmark illuminated at dusk
La Dome · Est. 1915

A Sacred Newark
Treasure,
Restored for Its Next Century.

Drawn by the New York architect Albert S. Gottlieb and dedicated in December 1915, La Dome is one of the most quietly extraordinary buildings still standing in Newark — a million cubic feet of light brown brick, terra cotta, and Indiana limestone, crowned by a ninety-five-foot dome the city has nearly forgotten it has. After a century of service and a generation of silence, it is being brought back, room by room, for the city it has always belonged to.

Support the RestorationView the Transformation
Chapter One

A Building Worth Saving.

Built between 1911 and 1914 on the rise of what is now Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, the building occupies an entire block — a hundred feet on the avenue, two hundred and twenty-five feet deep. Its envelope is light brown brick of a deliberately rough texture, trimmed in matching terra cotta and capped in Indiana limestone. The dome and sloping roofs are clad in gray-green terra cotta tile. It was engineered, from the start, to last.

Step inside and the architecture still speaks for itself: arches and dome sheathed in Guastavino acoustic tile, an altar carved from Tavernelle marble, a base of red Italian marble running the perimeter, cork-tile floors underfoot, and woodwork toned by hand to the warm brown of the surrounding terra cotta. There are very few interiors of this craftsmanship left standing in any American city.

After decades of quiet, the building is opening its eyes again.

1915
Year of Dedication
95 ft
Sidewalk to the Crown of the Dome
1,600
Seats Beneath a Single Roof
Our Story

A Private Restoration, A Public Gift.

In 2019 we took the keys with one quiet intention: to keep this building standing. Every phase since — every craftsman, every beam, every length of millwork — has been paid for privately. No grants. No campaigns. No expectation of return.

We didn't do this to build a business or to put a name on a wall. We did it because Newark deserves to keep its most beautiful rooms, and because places like this only ever truly belong to the people who walk through them.

As we step into the final phase, we'd like to invite the city in. There are no donor tiers, no naming opportunities, no recognition packages. Every contribution, large or modest, simply helps us finish — and hands the building back to everyone who will one day stand inside it.

More than a building, this is a room large enough for everyone — a home for any faith, any background, any reason to gather. A quiet promise that Newark can be welcoming, safe, and beautiful for whoever walks in next.

Bring the city together. Help us finish what we started.

2019 · Where It All Began

The Day We First Took the Keys.

It was the autumn of 2019. We crossed the threshold of a sleeping building and found a century of beauty buried under decades of quiet — and made ourselves a small, stubborn promise to give it back to Newark.

The grand sanctuary — pews intact, dome darkened, decades of dust.2019 · 01 / 07
The grand sanctuary — pews intact, dome darkened, decades of dust.
The original gilded apse, books left where they fell.2019 · 02 / 07
The original gilded apse, books left where they fell.
Empty galleries that once held generations of voices.2019 · 03 / 07
Empty galleries that once held generations of voices.
The historic vestibule — original millwork still standing.2019 · 04 / 07
The historic vestibule — original millwork still standing.
Marble stairs leading to the dome level, paint peeling, light still finding its way through.2019 · 05 / 07
Marble stairs leading to the dome level, paint peeling, light still finding its way through.
The pipe organ untouched, woodwork waiting to be reborn.2019 · 06 / 07
The pipe organ untouched, woodwork waiting to be reborn.
A small chapel, light through a single rosette window.2019 · 07 / 07
A small chapel, light through a single rosette window.

Scroll horizontally — every image is the same building you see today.

We have given this building everything we have. We are nearly there. The last stretch is what we humbly ask the city to walk with us.

The Restoration Journey

From abandonment toward rebirth.

Years of patient, quiet work have already changed this building beyond recognition. What remains is the last and most visible chapter — the one that opens its doors again.

The Façade at Night — restored
The Façade at Night — before restoration
BeforeAfter
Chapter 01

The Façade at Night

How it stood. How it stands again — taking its place back in Newark's skyline.

Where We Began  ·  Where We Are Going

The Grand Sanctuary — restored
The Grand Sanctuary — before restoration
BeforeAfter
Chapter 02

The Grand Sanctuary

Where it began. Where it is going — a forgotten room remembering itself.

Where We Began  ·  Where We Are Going

Stained Glass & Sacred Light — restored
Stained Glass & Sacred Light — before restoration
BeforeAfter
Chapter 03

Stained Glass & Sacred Light

The original windows as we found them — and the light we are coaxing back, panel by patient panel.

Where We Began  ·  Where We Are Going

Woodwork & Floors — restored
Woodwork & Floors — before restoration
BeforeAfter
Chapter 04

Woodwork & Floors

From bare bones to deep grain — new millwork carved in the language of the original.

Where We Began  ·  Where We Are Going

Rooftop Vision — restored
Rooftop Vision — before restoration
BeforeAfter
Chapter 05

Rooftop Vision

What it was. What it is becoming — an open-air room above the dome, with Newark all around.

Where We Began  ·  Where We Are Going

Every "before" is the room we inherited. Every "after" is the room within reach. Only the last steps remain.

Already Completed

What Has Already Been Done.

Six years of privately funded work have carried this building from ruin to a sound, breathing structure. This is the ground we have already covered, brick by brick.

01

Full Gut Renovation

The entire building has been carefully gutted, cleared of decades of deterioration, and prepared for its next century.

02

New Second Floor Built Beneath the Dome

An entirely new second-level structure was engineered and constructed within the dome area to expand the building's purpose.

03

Leaking Roof & Ceilings Repaired

Years of water damage have been resolved — the roof, ceilings, and structural envelope have been fully sealed.

04

New Flooring & Base Lighting Installed

Solid foundational flooring and essential lighting are in place throughout the building.

05

Original Woodwork Rebuilt in Custom Detail

Beautiful new wood millwork has been crafted and installed throughout the interior, honoring the building's original character.

06

Complete Interior Cleanup

The entire space has been cleaned, cleared, and prepared — ready for the final restoration phase.

The Final Phase

What Is Still Left to Finish.

The bones are sound. The character is back. These are the final pieces — the details that turn a restored structure into a room you can stand inside.

01 / 10

Stained Glass Restoration

Six original memorial windows, three to a side, frame the auditorium. The wounded panels are pulled, releaded by hand, and returned by the small fraternity of glaziers still trained to set old glass back into a building of this caliber.

02 / 10

Grand Sound & Acoustics

When this room was drawn, the acoustics were engineered by Wallace C. Sabine — the Harvard physicist who effectively invented the field. A speaker in normal voice carries to every seat without echo. The new system is being tuned to honor that envelope, not fight it.

03 / 10

Interior Architectural Lighting

The original scheme was indirect and concealed, anchored by a six-point star fixture suspended from the crown of the dome. The new lighting is drawn the same way — to trace the arches and ribs, never to compete with them.

04 / 10

Exterior Illumination

Light brown brick, Indiana limestone copings, gray-green terra cotta on the dome — a façade meant to be read at night. The exterior wash returns the silhouette to the Newark skyline, ninety-five feet from sidewalk to crown.

05 / 10

Wood Staining Throughout

Every length of new millwork is being toned to the warm brown of the original terra cotta — the slow, patient finish work that turns raw carpentry into something heirloom.

06 / 10

Catering Kitchen in the Lower Level

A full professional kitchen tucked beneath the floor plate — quiet, hidden, and capable of serving a 1,600-seat room without ever being seen or heard.

07 / 10

Four Elevators

Four elevators threaded discreetly through a building that was never originally designed for them — so every guest, of every age and ability, can reach every floor with ease.

08 / 10

Rooftop Build-Out & Furniture

The final inches of the rooftop terrace — stone, lounge, dining, and an open view of Newark from above the dome.

09 / 10

Indoor Furniture & Ballroom

The full furnishing of the interior — chairs, tables, lounges, the ballroom in its entirety, chosen with the same restraint that shaped the architecture.

10 / 10

Bar Equipment & Hospitality

The hospitality backbone — bars, service stations, and the quiet infrastructure that makes a great evening feel effortless.

The restored sanctuary of La Dome set for an evening cultural gathering
A Living Future

A Future Worth Gathering In.

When the work is done, La Dome will be more than a venue. It will be a room the city can use — a hall whose acoustics were laid out a century ago by the physicist who founded the field, tuned today for orchestras, vows, galas, and quiet civic evenings the city hasn't had a stage for in a very long time.

A house large enough to seat sixteen hundred and small enough, somehow, to feel like it was built for you.

Honor the past. Build the future. Together.

Sponsor an Element

Restore a Piece of the Building.

For those who'd like their gift to live somewhere specific, you can direct it to a single element of the remaining work. There are no naming rights, no plaques, no tiers — only the quiet satisfaction of having finished a particular piece. If you choose to take an entire element on, we would consider it a privilege to walk you through it in person, and to share what your gift is becoming.

La Dome illuminated against the Newark night sky

A Sacred Past.
A Living Future.

For more than a century, this building has stood over Newark — a quiet argument for craftsmanship, beauty, and the idea of a city worth gathering in. With your help, it stands for a century more.

Help us bring it home.

Support the Restoration
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