Shubert Theater

History and architecture

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 Shubert was one of a pair with the Booth, and was among the numerous theaters constructed by the Shuberts, one of the most active and influential families in American theater history. The Shubert was built as a memorial to Sam S. Shubert, leader of the family's theatrical enterprises until his untimely death in a train wreck.

Founded by the three brothers Sam S., Lee and J.J. Shubert, the Shubert organization was the dominant shaper of New York's theater district. Beginning as producers, the brothers expanded into the building of theaters as well, and eventually helped cover the blocks east and west of Broadway in Midtown with playhouses.

Henry B. Herts, the architect of the Shubert, earned a reputation as one of New York's most skilled theater architects, first in partnership with Hugh Tallant and later practicing alone. For the Shubert he designed a Venetian-inspired facade, adorned with sgrafitto ornament, which is linked to that of the adjacent Booth theater and helps to set the character of Shubert Alley.

As one of the pre-World War I theater buildings, the Shubert is among the oldest group of theaters surviving in New York. For three quarters of a century the Shubert Theater has served as home to countless numbers of the plays through which the Broadway theater has come to personify American theater. As such, it continues to help define the Broadway theater district, the largest and most famous concentration of legitimate stage theaters in the worId. As one of the theaters in the Shubert Alley grouping (West 44th and 45th Streets, between Shubert Alley and Eighth Avenue), it contributes to the visual identity of the Broadway theater district's symbolic core.