The main facade originally also included a mechanical Seth Thomas clock and a sculpture of Saint George fighting a fire-breathing dragon.

[16] The Grand Concourse elevation of the facade is relatively restrained due to zoning restrictions along the corridor, which prohibited Loew's from adding a vertical sign there.

The frontispiece includes a blue-and-cream panel with a sunburst motif and the words "Loew's Paradise Theater" in all-capital neon letters.

[18] On the second story of the retail section, each bay has a triple window, which is surrounded by a cream-colored terracotta frame with blue and salmon-pink accents.

Because the auditorium was located at the western or rear end of the site, on Creston Avenue, this freed up space for storefronts to the east, along the Grand Concourse.

The east wall has six pairs of doors leading to the Grand Concourse, above which is a loggia with five arches supported by intertwined pilasters and columns.

The south wall includes a door to the easternmost aisle of the auditorium's orchestra level, which is topped by statues of a man and woman.

[25] The lower foyer has a low wooden ceiling[26] decorated with moldings, as well as an oval mural at its center, which was painted by David Jermann in 1999.

[27] The north and south walls and the vaulted ceiling feature murals by the Hungarian artists Lajos Szanto and Andrew Karoly.

[35] The side walls, on the west and east, narrow toward the front (south) end of the auditorium, giving the space a wedge shape.

[49][50] The Hewitt Place Corporation, a subsidiary of Paramount-Publix,[51] first acquired land on the Grand Concourse in late 1925 with the intention of developing a theater there.

[52] Within a month, Loew's competitor Keith-Albee-Orpheum decided to develop a competing theater on a site on Fordham Road that had been vacant for four years.

[61] One local real-estate developer characterized the theater's construction as one of several improvements to "this great thoroughfare of the Bronx", the Grand Concourse.

[73][74] Frank Rieger was hired as the theater's first chief engineer,[75] Dave Schooler was the initial master of ceremonies,[73][76] Don Albert was the inaugural conductor, and Jerry de Rose was the first manager.

[94] To attract visitors, and amid a decline in the number of newly released films, Loew's considered resuming vaudeville shows at the theater in 1936.

[96] The Paradise distributed prizes to random nighttime visitors in the 1930s as part of the Bank Night franchise, but these lotteries were discontinued following protests from the operators of rival theaters.

[97] Amid increasing competition from RKO theaters in the Bronx, in 1939, the Paradise began hosting live music each Tuesday to supplement its film screenings.

[100] Following the U.S. Supreme Court's 1948 ruling in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc., Loew's Theaters was forced to split up its film-production and film-exhibition divisions.

[111] In addition, urban residents had begun to move to the suburbs, and neighborhood movie houses had to compete with shopping-mall multiplexes and household televisions.

[69][139] ABI's plans called for converting the theater into a shopping mall,[139] which would have entailed covering the plaster decorations in the auditorium and subdividing the space.

[143] The LPC, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, and Eames discussed the creation of an easement that would preserve the lobby spaces while allowing the auditorium and stage house to be converted to a mall.

[151] At the beginning of 2000, the boxing promoter Joe DeGuardia still anticipated that the theater would reopen within a year,[152] but the restoration was subsequently halted due to missed rent payments.

The theater was also rented out for children's theatrical shows, graduation ceremonies, weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and political gatherings.

[154] During its time as an event venue, the Paradise hosted performances by musicians such as the rapper Rick Ross, the rock band The Killers,[31] and the baseball player Bernie Williams.

[160] The actress Cathy Moriarty and her husband, the developer Joe Gentile, acquired the Paradise Theater in July 2007 through their company, Utopia Studios.

[161][162] The Paradise Theater was closed briefly in the late 2000s, reopening on October 24, 2009, after concert promoters Derrick Sanders and Shelby Joyner acquired it.

[165] In October 2012, the Paradise Theater was leased to the World Changers Church, a prosperity gospel congregation led by Atlanta–based pastor Creflo Dollar and his wife Taffi.

[74] Logan Billingsley, the chairman of the Bronx Chamber of Commerce, said that "in every detail it will equal the pretentious display of talent that has marked the downtown [New York City] Loew theatres".

[127] A writer for The Wilson Quarterly said in 2000 that images of the abandoned theater prompted "mixed disbelief, laughter, and regret in just about equal measure", citing the poor condition of the "architecturally giddy" decorations.

[176] The architectural writer Judith Gura described the theater in 2015 as "an opulent escapist environment that could be enjoyed for as little as twenty-five cents" at the time of its opening.