History and architecture
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 civic leader, who intended it as a permanent home for the Yiddish Art Theater, one of the leading Yiddish "art theater" companies, under the direction of preeminent Yiddish actor Maurice Schwartz.
Although the Yiddish Art Theater company performed in the Jaffe Art Theater for only four seasons, this theater remained a Yiddish playhouse (most often as the Yiddish Folks Theater) nearly the entire time between its opening in 1926 and 1945, and was also the site of Yiddish theater revival productions in the 1970s and '80s.
The Jaffe Art Theater Building is one of the most tangible reminders of the heyday of Yiddish theater in New York City in the early twentieth century, particularly along the "Yiddish Rialto" of lower Second Avenue, when this form of entertainment was a significant part of the rich cultural heritage of the Jewish Lower East Side of Manhattan.
The Moorish Revival design of the cast-stone front portion of the theater building incorporates Alhambraic motifs and Judaic references, but also reflects contemporary architectural trends of the 1920s. These include the search for an appropriate stylistic expression for synagogues and other Jewish institutions, the interest in contrast between areas of b!ank wall surface and concentrated areas of flat decoration, and the use of "exotic" styles for theaters.
After its initial Yiddish heyday, the theater, under a variety of names, continued to have an incredibly rich cultural history, presenting many different forms of entertainment, including off-Broadway dramatic and musical productions (many of which moved to Broadway), burlesque, dance, concerts, and movies, and was particularly renowned as the off-Broadway Phoenix Theater from 1953 to 1961. In addition, the theater presented the work of many of the most important figures of the twentieth-century Yiddish and English-language stages, including actors, directors, writers, and designers.
Sources and further reading
This history comes from the Landmarks app’s historical catalog. Names and building uses may reflect the period described.