Building type
Broadway houses, Yiddish theaters, and other performance venues record Manhattan's theater history.
Compare the facades and entrances of theaters clustered around Broadway. Other performance venues introduce theater traditions beyond Midtown.
35 building histories
Theater · 1919-1921
223 West 49th Street, New York, NY
The Ambassador Theater survives today as one of the historic playhouses that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built shortly after, the end of World War I, the Ambassador was among the...
Read the storyTheater · 1924-25
259 West 52nd Street, New York, NY
The ANTA Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in the 1924-25, the ARM was constructed for the Theater Guild as a subscription...
Read the storyTheater · 1913-14
253 West 125th Street, New York, NY
The Apollo Theater, built in 1913-14 as Hurtig & Seamon's New (Burlesque) Theater, spanned the two eras of Harlem's entertainment history. The design by architect George Keister displays elements of the neo-classical...
Read the storyTheater · 1928
251 West 47th Street, New York, NY
The Barrymore Theater survives today as one of the historic theater interiors that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built at the end of the 1920s, the Barrymore was among the numerous...
Read the storyTheater · 1906-07
121 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Belasco Theater (originally Belasco's Stuyvesant) was built in 1906-07 as the ideal playhouse of David Belasco. Actor, dramatist, manager and director, he was one of the most important personalities in the history...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
232 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Booth Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1912-13, shortly before World War I, to the designs of Henry B. Herts, the...
Read the storyTheater · 1874
330 Bowery, New York, NY
The Bouwerie Lane Theatre is an especially interesting cast-iron building because Henry Engelbert, the architect, designed it in the elaborate styli of the .French Second Empire. The wealth of ornamental detail, with...
Read the storyTheater · 1917-18
243 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Broadhurst Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbol ize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built shortly after the end of World War I, the Broadhurst was one of a pair with...
Read the storyTheater · 1925-26
262 West 47th Street, New York, NY
The Brooks Atkinson Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built during the mid-1920s, the Brooks Atkinson was among the half-dozen...
Read the storyTheater · 1889–1891
881 7th Ave, New York, NY
William B. Tuthill designed Carnegie Hall at Seventh Avenue and 57th Street. Construction began in 1889, and the hall opened on May 5, 1891, with a festival featuring Tchaikovsky as a guest conductor. The Philharmonic...
Read the storyTheater · 1913-14
3338 Broadway, New York, NY
The Claremont Theater building is one of the oldest structures in New York City planned specifically to exhibit motion pictures, originally called “photoplays.” Located in north Manhattanville, at the southeast corner...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
3560 Broadway, New York, NY
Constructed in 1912-13 as a vaudeville house during one of New York's theater building booms, the Hamilton Theater is located in the Hamilton Heights area of Manhattan. Designed by the great theater architect, Thomas W....
Read the storyTheater · 1912
244 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The building of the Little Theater marked a new direction in the history of the Broadway stage, and in the design of Broadway theaters. Designed by Ingalls & Hoffman and built in 1912, the Little Theater's neo-Colonial...
Read the storyTheater · 1902-04
141 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Hudson Theater survives today as one of the historic playhouses that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1902-04, the Hudson was part of a burst in theater construction that shaped...
Read the storyTheater · 1873
74 East 4th Street, New York, NY
The four-story, red brick-clad Aschenbroedel Verein Building, in today’s East Village neighborhood of Manhattan, was constructed in 1873 to the design of German-born architect August H. Blankenstein for this...
Read the storyTheater · 1926-27
31 Canal Street, New York, NY
The Loew’s Canal Street Theatre at 31 Canal Street on Manahattan’s Lower East Side was constructed as a neighborhood movie house in 1926-27 at the beginning of what is generally regarded as the Golden Age of Cinema. It...
Read the storyTheater · 1925-26
189 2nd Avenue, New York, NY
The Louis N. Jaffe Art Theater (Yiddish Art Theater/Yiddish Folks designed by the prolific theater architect Harrison G. Wiseman, was constructed in 1925-26 for Louis N. Jaffe, a Brooklyn lawyer and prominent Jewish...
Read the storyTheater · 1909-10
203 West 46th Street, New York, NY
The Lunt-Fontanne Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1910 as Charles Dillingham's Globe Theater, and designed by Carrere &...
Read the storyTheater · 1903
157 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Lyceum Theatre, the oldest playhouse in New York City still serving the legitimate stage, was opened on November 2, 1903, under the management of Daniel Froham. Designed by the firm of Herts & Tallant, which was...
Read the storyTheater · 1926-27
257 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Majestic Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1926-27, the Majestic was among the half-dozen theaters constructed by the...
Read the storyTheater · 1929
217 West 51st Street, New York, NY
The Mark Hellinger Theater survives today as one of the few intact grand movie palaces in Manhattan, as well as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built for...
Read the storyTheater · 1923-24
314 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Martin Beck Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. It was built in 1923-24 by Martin Beck, a West Coast producer who had formerly...
Read the storyTheater · 1932-33
2626 Broadway, New York, NY
The Midtown Theater (now Metro Theater), a rare surviving small Art Deco style neighborhood movie theater, has one of the finest facades of its type in New York City. Among the Art Deco buildings in New York City many...
Read the storyTheater · 1920
247 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Music Box Theater survives today as one of the historic playhouses that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Constructed shortly after the end of World War I, the Music Box was built by...
Read the storyTheater · 1913-15
466 Grand Street, New York, NY
The Neighborhood Playhouse was constructed in 1913-15 by sisters Alice and Irene Lewisohn as part of the Henry Street Settlement. A theatrical group by the same name founded by Lewisohn sisters was located here from...
Read the storyTheater · 1902–1903
214 West 42nd Street, New York, NY
The New Amsterdam Theater opened on October 26, 1903. Herts & Tallant designed it for producers Klaw & Erlanger, combining a main auditorium, a rooftop theater, and an office tower. Its Art Nouveau ornament uses...
Read the storyTheater · 1917-18
234 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Plymouth Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1917-18, the Plymouth was one of a pair with the Broadhurst and among the...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
1916 Adam Clayton Powell, Jr Blvd, New York, NY
The Regent Theater is one of New York City's most significant surviving early motion picture theater buildings. Constructed in 1912-13, during the period that the motion picture business made the transition from showing...
Read the storyTheater · 1926-27
242 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Royale Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1926-27, the Royale was among the half-dozen theaters constructed by the...
Read the storyTheater · 1926-27
256 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The St. James (built as the Erlanger) Theater survives today as one of the historic playhouses that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1926-27, the St. James was designed by the...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
233 West 44th Street, New York, NY
The Shubert Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1912-13, shortly before World War I, to the designs of Henry B. Herts, the...
Read the storyTheater · 1927
254 West 52nd Street, New York, NY
The Alvin Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1926-27, the Alvin was one of the relatively small number of post-World War I...
Read the storyTheater · 1912-13
146 West 48th Street, New York, NY
The Cort Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built in 1912-13, the Cort is among the oldest surviving theaters in New York. It was...
Read the storyTheater · 1926-27
256 West 45th Street, New York, NY
The Golden Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Built as the Theatre Masque in 1926-27, the Golden was among the half-dozen theaters...
Read the storyTheater · 1917-18
130 West 43rd Street, New York, NY
The Henry Miller Theater survives today as one of the historic playhouses that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. Constructed in 1917-18, the Henry Miller was designed to the specifications of...
Read the story