A clock tower and a columned courthouse stand on the hill above the ferry slips, and the 1929 theatre on Hyatt Street is where School of Rock ends.
What St. George looks like
Richmond Terrace runs along the water below a hill of civic buildings. Borough Hall stands at number 10 in red brick and limestone under a two storey mansard roof, its clock tower visible from the harbor. Thirteen murals fill arched niches on the main floor inside. The courthouse next door at number 18 sits higher up the slope, a sweeping flight of stairs rising from the terrace to a temple front pediment on six Corinthian columns. A formal French garden separates the two on their harbor side.
Across the terrace at One Bay Street, the ferry and the Staten Island Railway both end inside . Railway tracks fan out behind it in an open cut, with bus ramps on the deck above. A third of a mile along Richmond Terrace, sits on the water, its center field batter's eye retracting so the Manhattan skyline stands behind the outfield wall. , the September 11 memorial, stands on the esplanade beyond the outfield with its two walls open toward Lower Manhattan.
Above the terminal, climbs the hill past storefronts and curves out of sight. The apartment houses on these streets are red brick, a few with carved stone surrounds and sculpted heads over their doors. Iron fire escapes zigzag down the fronts above the deli awnings. The library branch a block from Borough Hall has a limestone pediment on fluted columns set into red brick. On Hyatt Street the 1929 picture palace has a lit marquee, and the balconies inside are gilded under a six story proscenium.
Shot in St. George
Two of the credits here are on the ferry, Working Girl and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. The theatre on Hyatt Street holds one film and two television series in the same auditorium.
Working Girl, 1988
The ferry crossing
The 1988 film begins and ends on the Staten Island Ferry, with the commuter deck shot on the crossing to Manhattan. Carly Simon's 'Let the River Run' plays over that opening sequence.
School of Rock, 2003
Played the Battle of the Bands hall
The Battle of the Bands that ends the 2003 film was shot on this stage. The marquee the film cuts to outside is another house, the Union County Performing Arts Center in Rahway, New Jersey. Two television productions have used the same auditorium since, an opera scene for the 2009 Gossip Girl episode 'You've Got Yale!' and an episode of the NBC series Smash in its 2012 season.
The King of Staten Island, 2020
The ballpark
The 2020 film shot at the ferry terminal and at this ballpark, working through a Staten Island Yankees game. It was called Richmond County Bank Ballpark then and is SIUH Community Park now.
What St. George can double for
Irving Street in Rahway, New Jersey
School of Rock cut this auditorium together with the Rahway Theatre on Irving Street, taking the marquee and the entrance in New Jersey and the concert on the stage here. Both houses are ornate 1920s movie palaces. The Rahway room is the smaller of the two, seating 1,334. The exteriors are not interchangeable, and the production used the Rahway front rather than this one. Anything shot outside on Hyatt Street brings in a tall brick block and a lit marquee the New Jersey house does not have. Try searching 1920s movie palaces now.
Congress Street in Portland, Maine
Portland City Hall stands on a rise at the eastern end of downtown, a granite civic block by Carrere and Hastings, the firm that drew both buildings on Richmond Terrace. A broad flight of stairs climbs to three entrances under a 200 foot tower, and the granite Cumberland County Courthouse stands two blocks off on Federal Street. Portland is granite throughout where Richmond Terrace is red brick with limestone trim. Sixteen wharves and piers line Commercial Street below it, so a wide shot toward the harbor has to lose the open channel and the Manhattan skyline. Try searching granite civic block now.
State Street in New London, Connecticut
State Street runs uphill from the water in New London, with the boats to Block Island and Fishers Island tied up beside Union Station at the bottom and the county courthouse at the top. It is the same arrangement as the climb from the slips here, trains and ferries together at the foot of a street that ends at a courthouse. The New London courthouse is a clapboard building under a cupola, and its downtown blocks are nineteenth century brick of three and four storeys. The Corinthian portico gives the substitution away, so hold the frame on the slope and on the station and slips at the bottom. Try searching nineteenth century brick blocks now.
