As the population of New York City swelled in the 19th century, the city's reservoirs were built to supply a growing population with a safe and reliable water supply.

Built in 1900 by Oscar Hammerstein I, the Republic was taken over in 1902 by David Belasco. The theater reverted to its original name around 1910 and continued as a legitimate house until 1932 when it became home to Billy Minsky's burlesque shows. After Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia banned burlesque in 1942, the Republic was converted into a movie theater, the Victory, and fell into decline. In 1995 the beautifully restored New Victory opened again as a theater.

Astor Theatre, ca. 1905. Opened on September 21, 1906 with a production of “A Midsummer Nights Dream,” the Astor Theatre was considered a premier Broadway venue during the early 20th century. The corner building was striking, rendered in a mix of Neo-Classical and Second Empire styles and topped by a bronze-domed tower. Live performances continued until 1925 when the theatre was converted to a movie house. In 1955 the movie "East of Eden," starring James Dean premiered here. The ornate structure underwent a radical modernization in 1959, which created a plain boxy facade and gutted the interior of its gilded proscenium arch and boxes. In 1972 the movie house closed. Despite a valiant effort by preservationists to save the building and its adjacent theatres (the Victoria Theatre, the Helen Hayes Theatre, the Bijou Theatre and Morosco Theatre), the whole block was demolished in 1982 for the Marriott Marquis New York Hotel. That hotel did include a Broadway theatre in its design.

New York Times Building ca. 1912 The New York Times Tower opened with a fireworks display in Times Square on New Year's Eve, 1904. Designed by the architect Cyrus Eidlitz and his partner Andrew McKenzie, the Tower redefined the landscape of the newspaper industry and the city itself. Built at the direction of the paper's owner and publisher Adolph Ochs, who had purchased the ailing New York Times in 1896, the new building was part of his larger plan to reinvigorate the newspaper. Ochs wanted a building to "wake up the nation" and to call attention to the paper's resurgence under his leadership. Ochs began his investigations of real estate in 1902, and the first sites he considered were close to City Hall and Newspaper Row. But rising real estate prices pushed Ochs uptown. The final site was a wedge of land at Broadway and 42nd Street in an area known as Longacre Square, a neighborhood of cheap theaters and hotels on the brink of a major transformation. A key advantage of the site was the potential to connect directly to the new Broadway IRT subway that was to open in 1904. The new Times Building was the first in the city to have a subway station in its basement. This was more than mere novelty: it gave the Times the advantage of speed. With the printing presses located in the basement and with access directly to the trains, the Times could distribute papers underground to distant points far more quickly and efficiently than its competitors. Eidlitz & McKenzie worked with the small site to create an iconic wedge-shaped building. The base rose fifteen stories and a tower at the south end added ten floors, with a private observation lounge on its roof for Ochs. While Eidlitz initially designed a mansard roof, at Ochs's request he redesigned the tower based on Giotto's campanile at the Florence Cathedral, which he had much admired during his European travels. The building's façade and ornament used glazed terra cotta with robust Renaissance and Gothic details.

Bush Terminal Building ca. 1938 Erected in 1917 by Irving T. Bush, the businessman who created the massive Bush Terminal warehouse and factory complex in Brooklyn, the Bush Terminal Sales Building at 130 W. 42nd St. was one of the last of the tall towers to rise without the setbacks the 1916 zoning law required. Its architect Harvey Wiley Corbett was a leading advocate of the setback form, but he was happy to oblige his client with a slender tower of stacked showroom floors that imitated a Gothic spire.

New York City has long been considered the leading American center for arts and culture. The arts, especially theater, constitute one of New York’s primary economic forces. Throughout the 20th century, the LGBT community has had a significant and disproportionate impact on the Broadway stage, even as the New York Legislature-enacted Wales Padlock Law (1927-1967) made it illegal for theaters to show plays that featured gay and lesbian characters (though some productions managed to get around this restriction). This curated collection spotlights the Broadway Theater District and its associations with major LGBT performers and creators.

Hotel Knickerbocker, 1913. Not to be outdone by his cousin and occasional real estate rival William Waldorf, who had funded the Hotel Astor, John Jacob Astor IV built the Hotel Knickerbocker just a few blocks away. The Knickerbocker, like the Astor, was a Beaux-Arts building. Designed by Marvin & Davis, the 1906 hotel had a prominent mansard roof and light colored terra cotta decoration on its red brick facade. The hotel had 556 rooms, a 2000 seat theatre, and a Maxfield Parrish mural "Old King Cole" in its bars. (That mural has been installed in the St. Regis Hotel bar since 1935.) Supposedly the martini was invented in the bar at the Knickerbocker, though evidence proves otherwise. Astor would die in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 and the hotel was closed and converted into offices in 1920 under financial strain by Astor's son. In the next nearly 100 years the building functioned as offices, residences, showrooms and studios for garment companies, and finally as of 2015, a hotel once again.

124-126 West 43rd Street, formerly Henry Miller's Theatre, ca. 1919.

Feeding birds by the fountain in Bryant Park, ca. 1930s. Bryant Park was laid out as a potter's field in 1823. The area became a public park in 1847, when it was named Reservoir Square after the adjacent reservoir. The Crystal Palace exhibition hall occupied the site from 1853 until it burned to the ground in 1858. In 1884, the park was given its present name in honor of William Cullen Bryant, the poet and newspaper editor who was also an advocate of public parks. After the main branch of the New York Public Library rose on the former site of the reservoir in 1899, Bryant Park was redesigned, and in the early years of this century became an active meeting place. During the Depression, it served as a warm-weather "dormitory" for the indigent, and in the 1970s, became a refuge for the homeless and an open market for drug dealers. Subsequent restoration and the opening of upscale restaurants have restored to its early state.

P.S. 28, 1920. Originally a public elementary school, this West 40th Street building was the original home of the School of Industrial Art, a public technical-vocational high school founded in 1936 with 128 male pupils (the school later expanded to a coeducational student body). SIA soon outgrew the 40th Street school house and moved into an annex of the Benjamin Franklin School on 79th Street. In 1960, the school, newly renamed the High School of Art and Design, moved to its long-term home at 1075 Second Avenue — adjacent to the present campus, which opened 56th Street in 2012. Notable alumni of SIA and Art and Design include performers (Tony Bennett, ‘54), visual artists (Art Spiegelman ‘65), and fashion designers (Calvin Klein, ‘60; Marc Jacobs, ‘81).

Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, large trade fairs such as the Crystal Palace Exposition provided new venues for American art and inventiveness.

New York Public Library (Main Lobby, North and South Staircases from first to third floor and Central Hall, third floor) STATUS Designated Interior Landmark ARCHITECT: Carrere and Hastings DATE: 1898-1911 The interiors of the New York Public Library display some of the finest stonework and vaulting in the City. The ornamental plaster ceilings are of great elegance. These rooms and staircases provide a grand approach to the facilities of one of the finest libraries in the world. Three paired, pedimented entrance doors, set beneath high arched transoms of glass, are embellished by ornamental wrought-iron borders. The great interior space of the entrance lobby is over seventy feet long and forty-four feet wide. This space is all of stone, including the two grand Staircases leading to the upper floors.

Before the Times building ascended at 1 Broadway, there was a small hotel built around beer. During the 1890s, the Pabst Brewing Company began purchasing hotels and music halls to promote their beer. Securing properties in the Midwest and Chicago, Pabst would then sublease them to managers as long as they would only serve Pabst products. Leasing the land for the hotel from Charley Thorley (who in turn was leasing it from Henry Dolan, the Pabst Hotel's lot sat at the intersection of Broadway and Seventh Avenue. Its architect, Henry F. Kilburn then built a nine-story structure with hotel rooms on the third through nine floors and a restaurant and rathskeller on the lower floors and basement. While the rathskeller exceeded the property lines lawfully, a portico built for the restaurant did so illegally. While commonly done, this would be something the Pabst Hotel would come to regret. Opening November 11th, 1899, the Pabst Hotel found steady business as a bachelor's hotel and rathskeller. But suddenly, the Pabst found itself with a surprising enemy. The New York Times began ferociously attacking the Pabst for its illegal portico. While the portico was indeed illegal, it was odd that the paper would so rabidly pursue one single violation when the practice was fairly common. Nor did the Times let up. Beginning in July of 1900, the New York Times published dozens of articles and editorials demanding that the city remove the portico at the hotel's expense. However, the hotel's manager Regan ignored the articles and the city officials had no motivation to go after this violation over all the others. Numerous delaying tactics were put into place and it wasn't until 1901 that a judge ordered the portico removed. However, Regan and Thorley immediately appealed the decision. While the Pabst Hotel was fighting its portico battle with the Times, its demise was sealed in a different way. During the construction of the New York subway, the Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs had been campaigning for a subway stop at 42nd Street. The Subway had then purchased the neighboring property to the Pabst Hotel. However, in April of 1902, the Subway took possession of the Rathskeller, the underground beer hall where the hotel sold Pabst beer. With that, the Pabst corporation gave up, claiming this meant that the lease they had with Thorley was void (they would also later sue him.) What happened next offers some insight into the New York Times singling out of the Pabst. Adolph S. Och's purchased the Eno land from the subway corporation and leased the Pabst from Thorley. The Times then announced it was giving up its long-time home and building a new tower on Longacre square. The Times had won their war against the Pabst Hotel. When the Pabst Hotel was demolished in November of 1902, it was the first building supported by a steel structure to be fully demolished.

Replica of Federal Hall in Bryant Park, ca. 1932. While today there is a building in lower Manhattan called Federal Hall, the first building given that name in New York City was constructed in 1703 to serve as the city hall. The original Greek Revival structure was extensively renovated in 1788 by Pierre Charles L'Enfant, the architect of Washington, D.C. This work created what is considered the first example of Federal style architecture in the United States. The building became the Capitol of the newly formed country in 1789. Here, George Washinton was sworn in as President. The building was razed in 1812. But! it made a comeback (sort of). In 1932 the George Washington Bicentennial Planning Committee (established to honor the 200th anniversary of Washington's birth) and Sears, Roebuck, and Company erected a replica of the famous building, made out of wood and plaster. Situated in Bryant Park, near the terrace, the true-to-size building necessitated the temporary removal of a couple of statues. To further celebrate a reenactment of the inauguration was presented. Though master planner Moses had hoped that the display would boost visitation to the park (which had been largely neglected for decades), the replica was not hugely successful. That fact, and some shady financial dealings that depleted the committee's funds resulted in the razing the replica in 1933.

Before the Times building ascended at 1 Times Square, there was a small hotel built around beer. During the 1890s, the Pabst Brewing Company began purchasing hotels and music halls to promote their beer. Securing properties in the Midwest and Chicago, Pabst would then sublease them to managers as long as they would only serve Pabst products. The New York Times had other ideas for this plot in then-Longacre Square.

Though it has been a couple of hundred years since New York was seized by the British, New Yorkers have always contributed to the defense of their country. Here are a series of photos from our partners' archives of New Yorkers during wartime.

The Lyceum Theatre on 45th Street, which opened November 2, 1903 is the oldest continuously operating playhouse in Times Square Theatre District . Though the New Amsterdam Theatre and the Hudson Theatre opened earlier that same year, both spaces flirted with careers as movie theaters. The Lyceum holds the distinction of being the District’s oldest continually play-producing theatre, and in 1974, it was the first Broadway theater to be landmarked.

Crystal Palace ca. 1853 Starting in the mid-nineteenth century, large trade fairs such as the Crystal Palace Exposition provided new venues for American art and inventiveness. The "New-York Crystal Palace for the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations" was designed by Georg J.B. Carstensen and Charles Gildemeister, frankly modeled on the great hall of the same name that had opened in London's Hyde Park for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Both were cast iron and glass building of vast scale. New York's Crystal Palace stood on a site behind the Croton Distributing Reservoir, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on 42nd Street (today's Bryant Park). President Franklin Pierce opened the New York version on July 4, 1853, inaugurating America's first World's Fair. The exhibition closed on November 1 of the following year, but the building continued to host trade shows until it was destroyed by fire on October 5, 1858. Advertised by the fair's promoters as a fireproof structure, the great glass and iron hall was destroyed by flame in fifteen minutes. According to the Sun, within the week of the calamity a certain industrious Mrs. Richardson set up an outdoor stand in the adjoining Palace Garden and sold relics of the conflagration, including "vitrified masses of glass, metals, \&c., showing the intense heat which h prevailed at the time of the destruction."

American Theatre ca. 1895 The American Theatre, designed by Charles C. Haight, opened on May 22, 1893, with The Prodigal Daughter. T. Henry French, the manager, was one of the country's foremost producers, specializing in lavishly mounted extravaganzas. In 1897, French lost control of the theater in a foreclosure judgement, and it was taken over and used for every sort of entertainment; its last tenants being a burlesque troupe. Damaged by fire in 1930, the theater was razed to make way for other commercial structures.

Kress and Company Building, 1935. Designed by Brooklyn architect Edward Sibbert, the seven-story flagship Kress and Co. store on Fifth Avenue was the crowing glory of Sibbert 's career as the chief architect for Kress. He created more than 50 stores for the dime store chain. The marble Art Deco structure included Mayan motifs in the interior. This Kress store survived until 1977, though it was no longer the flagship and was only using the basement and first two floors of the building in the last few years. Kress & Co. went entirely out of business in 1980. The lot at the corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue is currently part of the HSBC Tower.

Hotel Metropole, not dated. 147 West 43rd Street has been the site of a hotel for more than a century. Now the Casablanca Hotel, in the early part of the 20th-century, the lot was home to Hotel Metropole. While celebrated as the first hotel in New York City to have running water in every room, Hotel Metropole was one of the most storied gangland hotels in all of Manhattan. A pair of professional gamblers, known as the Consindine Brothers, ran the hotel on behalf of Tammany Hall boss Big Tim Sullivan. The hotel, a crucial part of Big Tim's hustle, was also connected to the small-time gambler, Herman Rosenthal, who ran a lavish gambling den just a few blocks north. In the summer of 1912, Herman Rosenthal, a small-time gambler, was murdered at the Metropole at the behest of Charles Becker, a New York Polic detective who had been on the take. Rosenthal was a well-hated man after talking to the press, giving up information about a gambling ring aided in large part by a cabal of corrupt police. Both Becker, who was considered the mastermind and the gunmen, Harry “Gyp the Blood” Horrowitz and Lefty Louie Rosenburg, were executed for the crime.

Macy's Herald Square, ca. 1975. In 1900, Macy's, whose original store had been on West 14th Street since 1858, began buying plots of land near Broadway and 34th Street for a new massive store. The story goes that an agent of a rival department store, Siegel-Cooper, purchased the plot. Siegel-Cooper wanted Macy's to sell them the building on 14th Street in exchange for this single corner plot at 34th Street. Macy's refused and instead built their flagship store around the lot. Perhaps the first instance of a real estate hold out in New York City. In 1903 Siegel-Cooper, defeated after Macy's had opened the year before, demolished the small structure that occupied the corner and constructed a five-story building, designed by William Hume. Since the 1920s, Macy's has used the little building for billboards and signage, so much so that slowly nearly the entire building has been obscured. Today only parts of the lower two stories are visible and the huge Macy's 'shopping bag' that covers the building is in place as part of a lease agreement.

Lyceum Theater ARCHITECT: Herts & Tallant DATE: 1902-03 STYLE: Beaux-Arts Among its important qualities, the Lyceum Theatre is the oldest playhouse in New York City still serving the legitimate stage. During its history, many notable actors and actresses have appeared there. It was designed in the ornate Beaux-Arts style by the noted theatre architects Herts & Tallant. It contains extensive and innovative theatrical facilities, and is visually dramatic, creating a special atmosphere contributing to the excitement of the theatre and recalling an exciting era in American theatrical history.

The Chrysler Building, the Empire State, 30 Rock, and other skyscrapers adorn the skyline. At street level the solitude of the Public Library, and the glitz of Fifth Avenue. And underground, Grand Central Terminal ushers commuters in and out of the city. Take a walk amongst the sights of Midtown East.

New York Times Building ca. 1908 Designed by Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz, son of the noted architect Leopold Eidlitz, this building overcame several structural difficulties in the construction of its foundations. In style it is reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance, with corbeled cornice and decorative detail. On a similar site, it repeated the theme of the Flatiron building, although with less visual daring.

Belasco Theatre, September 1936. Originally called the Stuyvesant Theatre, the theatre building was completed in 1907 by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco. Belasco lived and worked in a large duplex apartment above the auditorium. The theatre had both a spectacularly designed interior, with Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels and ornamental woodwork, and new advanced technology, with modern lighting rigs and a hydraulic fly system. Belasco renamed the building for himself in 1910 and it continued to produce theatrical performances. Purchased in 1949 by the Shuberts, they leased it for use as an NBC studio for three years. In 1952 it returned to its original function and remains a Broadway house today.

The photo published in The Forward on December 25, 1968 had this curious (and sexist) caption: Israel’s Prettiest Join New York’s Finest at Times Square (טיימס סקװער in Yiddish), New York as a New York police officer stands in the center and observes stoically.”

"In the final analysis, the New York Chamber Music Society would possibly not have existed if Aeolian Hall was not built. It was a perfect hall for an ensemble of their size, thus the appropriate music could be programmed, knowing that any performance would be the best sounding acoustically, the most accessible to the public, and a great showcase for the critics to opine on the performances and the music. Additionally, the New York composers she commissioned not only took into consideration who they were writing for but also the acoustical space — having a premiere at Aeolian Hall was a great honor... NYCMS had established itself in New York City at Aeolian Hall and, were now able to move to another location knowing they would have an audience to follow. " For more on Aeolian Hall and the New York Chamber Music Society, check out this article by Lisa Kozenko in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.

William Cullen Bryant, a 19th century poet and namesake of the library’s backyard park, edited the New York Evening Post, advocated for the emergence of the Republican Party in the 1850s, espoused ending slavery and supported the founding of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Here he sits in commanding intellectual posture, embodying the western liberal mind and spirit. Across from Bryant - not pictured here - sits the statue of another American poet, Gertrude Stein, sculpted in the 1920s but not installed in the park until the 1990s - the first statue of a real female (versus a personification or symbol, like Audrey Munson) in NYC since Joan of Arc in Riverside Park in 1915; Gertrude sits in the lotus position, in meditative repose, zenlike, at one with the universal void. These two statues anchor the soul and central nervous system of the library and the midtown park.

International Casino, date unknown (post 1937). The International Casino was an Art Deco building designed by Thomas Lamb and Eugene DeRosa on the site of the Olympia Theatre. It was not a casino in the late 20th century sense of gambling, but a diner club and entertainment venue. The casino only lasted from 1937 until 1940 when a large clothing retailer took over the space on the corner of 45th Street and stayed in business until 1977. In 1980 the Bond's International Casino opened as a nightclub. A popular venue for rock acts, the building hosted Blue Oyster Cult, the Clash, the Dead Kennedys, and Blondie. The venue only survived until 1988. By the 1990s Roundabout Theatre Company had taken over the space and by 2000 it was the world's largest Toys "R" Us. In 2016 the entire blockfront between 44th and 45th Streets was once again demolished for a planned commercial space to house flagship stores of The Gap and Old Navy. During the excavation for the new building, remnants of the 1895 Olympia Theatre were discovered.

The Elk's Club found its humble beginnings as the "Jolly Corks," a fraternal social club founded to skirt city mandate that set the closing time of the nearby taverns. A member of the Jolly Cork's death inspired his fellow club goers to rebrand as the "Elk's Club," a social institution with aims to benefit society at large. Their location in Manhattan was conveniently located near Times Square - and, as you would guess, most of its members were men working in the theater industry. Women interested in the club were part of an order of "Does" until the club officially admitted women in the 1990s. The club also only admitted white members until 1970. Prior to this, a black fraternal club shared the name the "Elks," until they were sued and forced to differentiate themselves as, the "Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World." The club has expanded to include chapters in American cities of all sizes across the country and is still an important charitable organization. It is now headquartered in Chicago.

Hotel Cadillac, 1907. The Hotel Cadillac was originally constructed as the eight-story Barrett House Hotel in 1883 (a second 12-story section, seen at right and first called the Cadillac, was added a few years later). Here in 1888 Eugene O'Neill, the playwright was born. In 1900 the two section merged under the one name. The hotel survived until 1940 when it was razed for a small taxpayer building.

989 Sixth Avenue, unknown date.

Port Authority Bus Terminal and the McGraw-Hill Building, ca. 1994.

National Theatre (far right), 1935. Opened September 1, 1921, as the National Theatre, this was (and still is) the southernmost theatre in the Broadway district. Common among New York theatres, the venue has gone through a number of name changes over its history. It has been the Billy Rose Theatre, Trafalgar Theatre, and finally the David T. Nederlander Theatre. Between 1996 and 2008 the Nederlander was the home of the long-running hit Rent. For that production, the facade of the theatre was made to look like a downtown club. (Rent is set in Alphabet City.) Today the theatre continues to host Broadway performances, though the facade has been returned to its original look of plain brick and metal details.

Main Branch, New York Public Library, 1908. Perhaps one of the most recognizable buildings in the city, the Main Branch of the New York Public Library was built on land that had served as the Croton Reservoir since the early 1840s. In the late 1890s, the newly established library announced an open competition for the creation of a new building. The commission was awarded to the (then largely unknown) firm of Carrère & Hastings. After two years of dismantling the reservoir, the cornerstone for the new structure was laid on November 10, 1902. The resulting edifice, which was then the largest marble structure constructed in the United States, was designed to the wishes of the library's director. Dr. Billing envisioned a grand reading room constructed on top of seven floors of stacks and a complex system for book retrieval and dissemination. Dedicated on May 23, 1911 (the 16th anniversary of the merger that created the new centralized institution) the new library installed 75 miles of shelving for its one million books. The library was immediately an overwhelming success, with between 30,000 and 50,000 visitors on the very first day. The iconic stone lions that grace the entrance to the library had a bit of an identity crisis in their early years. First named "Leo Astor" and "Leo Lenox" (for the library's founders), they were then referred to as Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (though, obviously, both lions are male) before being christened "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor La Guardia during the Depression. His nicknames nodded towards virtues that he felt New Yorkers would need to possess during the difficult financial times.

Lyceum Theater Interior ARCHITECT: Herts & Tallant DATE: 1902-03 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The significant architectural features of this theatre include a lobby with a vaulted domed ceiling and murals, and an auditorium with an elaborate Beaux-Arts style proscenium arch, carved ornament, and elaborate and handsome ceiling. The arch also has flanking boxes covered by projecting hoods, each adorned with oversize gilded plaster swags and cartouches bearing the monogram “L.” The center of the proscenium arch is crowned by an enormous sculpture group representing ” Pallas-Athena, the Goddess of Wisdom, accompanied by Music and Drama.”

Engineer's Club ARCHITECT: Whitfield & King DATE: 1905-07 The Engineers’ Club Building is an early example of the high-rise clubhouse building. It featured 66 sleeping rooms, in addition to public and social spaces. The Engineers’ Club occupied the West 40th Street building until 1979, when the structure was successfully converted into residential apartments. Today the Engineers’ Club Building looks almost exactly as it did more than a century ago. It continues to stand as an architectural reminder of the emergence of New York State as the engineering center of the country and of the United States as an industrial and economic power. As the last remaining club building on a block which once had several, the Engineers’ Club Building is also a visual reminder of the prominence of the social club and of the bachelor apartment at the turn of the 20th century.

The New York Hippodrome, view across the tracks of the Sixth Avenue El, ca. 1905. The Hippodrome, a massive Midtown entertainment venue, opened in 1905, two blocks north of Bryant Park. During its heyday, Hippodrome acts included leading vaudeville performers, musical acts, circus animals, and the celebrated illusionist Harry Houdini. As entertainment tastes shifted alongside the proliferation of motion picture halls, the Hippodrome struggled to stay afloat. The venue closed for good in 1939 an was demolished shortly thereafter. A modern skyscraper known as "The Hippodrome Building" was built in the site during the 1950s.

New Amsterdam Theatre, ca. 1910. The Art Nouveau New Amsterdam Theatre was constructed between 1902 and 1903 to the designs of the firm of Henry Hertz and Hugh Tallant. The architects created a highly ornamented building; the first three floors are lavish in decoration and sculpture. Its popular roof garden was added in 1904. The building incorporated two theatrical spaces and an office tower to be leased to theatrical interests. Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., creator of the Ziegfeld Follies maintained an office in the building between 1913 and 1927, and the Follies themselves were performed on a New Amsterdam stage between 1913 and 1920, 1922 and 1925, and 1927. The roof garden venue at that time was called Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic and was known for more racy and tantalizing productions. The theatre closed in 1936 and was converted into a movie house for much of the rest of the 20th century. During this era the roof garden space was used as a rehearsal area for Broadway shows. In the 1990s the building was purchased by the Disney Theatrical Productions and underwent a massive and costly renovation to return the building to original grandeur. The roof garden was unfortunately permanently closed at this time, due to modern building codes. Since 1997 the venue has been the home of Disney-produced musicals, including The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and Aladdin.

Purity (Defeat of Slander) was a sculpture erected in Times Square in 1909 by artist Leo Lentelli. The statue depicts a crowned women draped in robes on a tall plinth. She holds a shield with the words "Our City" inscribed with "visible great dark blotches and spots to typify the mudslinging she had warded off," described William Harmon Black, former president of New York City's Board of Alderman (via Untapped Cities). Symbolically, the work represented public criticism of widespread political corruption in New York City politics at the time. Ultimately, the statue's life was short lived. Made of plaster, Purity melted in a downpour in November of 1909, and the 8-ton sculpture was dismantled a soon after.

238-244 and 246 West 44th Street, south side, between Broadway and Eighth Ave., showing the Little Theatre at No. 238-244, ca. 1920. Today the Little Theatre is the Helen Hayes Theatre, named for an American actress nicknamed the "First Lady of American Theatre." It is the smallest Broadway house with just under 600 seats.

No. 690 Eighth Avenue, ca. 1936.

Booth Theatre ARCHITECT: Henry B. Herts DATE: 1912-13 STYLE: Venetian-inspired The Venetian-inspired design by architect Henry B. Herts is particularly distinguished and responsive to its prominent site. Among its outstanding characteristics are its curved corner entrance, giant pilasters, elaborate door and window enframements, and unusual “sgrafitto” ornament.

Metropolitan Opera House, 39th Street and Broadway, ca. 1905. The first home of the Metropolitan Opera, the J. Cleavland Cady-designed “old Met,” opened in October, 1883 with a performance of “Faust” (the same opera that opened the Brooklyn Academy of Music twenty-five years later). The Met held its closing gala in April, 1966 (though an additional Bolshoi Ballet performance would be staged in May), ahead of the company’s move to its current home at Lincoln Center. The “old Met” was demolished the next year, after attempts to win Landmarks designation were unsuccessful.

Originally installed in 1894 in Bryant Park (seen in situ here), the bronze statue of Dr. Marion Sims was moved to Central Park, opposite the New York Academy of Medicine at Fifth Avenue and 103rd Street, in 1934. Sims, who is often referred to as the "father of modern gynecology" is a contention historical figure. A medical doctor who practiced in Pennsylvania, Alabama and New York, Sims owned slaves while living in the South. Though his research into fistulas and new surgical methods was groundbreaking and renowned, he experimented on enslaved women, repeatedly and without anesthesia. After nearly a decade of protests led by a black activist named Viola Plummer, East Harlem Preservation, and others, the city removed the statue from the park in April 2018. It was shipped to Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery where the doctor is buried. The cemetery plans to re-install the statue near the burial site with a historical display to contextualize Sim's life and work.

Steam + Felt = Hats, March 1, 1938. The occupants of the upper floors of this building are hat manufacturers. The construction and finishing of felt hats (the material in style for hat making in the 1930s) involved massive amounts of steam to mold and shape the products. Surrounded by the garment district (then covering 34th to 40th Streets between Sixth and Ninth Avenue) and the fur district, the millinery district covered a smaller footprint than the others. In fact, in the early mid century more than 15% of the country's (not city, but the whole country's) output of hats was manufactured in this building captured by Berenice Abbott in 1938.

Theatre Republic, 1900. Theater mogul Oscar Hammerstein I opened this venue with a Venetian facade as the Theatre Republic in 1900. In 1902, its manager and theatre impresario David Belasco leased the building. He renamed the theatre after himself. When Belasco took over full operation of the venue, he undertook major work, installing an orchestra pit, a new lighting system and a modern stage with trap doors through which scenery could be hoisted. In 1910, Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre on 44th Street took over the Belasco Theatre name, while this one returned to the name Theatre Republic. By 1931, the theater was once again renamed, this time as Minsky's Burlesque, Broadway's first burlesque house. Upon the ban of burlesque shows in 1942, it became "The Victory," a second-run movie house. Just as it set the stage as a place to indulge vices of the 1930s, in the 1970s the venue became the first porn theater on 42nd Street. The Victory cleaned up its act in the 1990s, and the stage was "once again graced by legitimate theater." It opened with the plays "Crowbar" and a production of "Romeo and Juliet." The Victory was acquired by the City and State to become part of the 42nd Street Development Project. The theater reopened as The New Victory Theater in 1995.

Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, ca. 1914. The trolley, which is traveling north towards the Times Building at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 42nd Street, is a car of the New York Railways Company Seventh Avenue Line. Originally organized as the Broadway and Seventh Avenue Railroad, which began operation on Seventh Avenue in 1865, the line was leased in 1893 by the Houston West Street & Pavonia Ferry Railroad Company. Through various leases, acquisitions, and new incorporated companies, this line would eventually become (like most Manhattan streetcar lines) part of the New York Railways Company. In 1925, New York Railways was acquired as a subsidiary of the Fifth Avenue Coach and that action was the death knell for the trolleys, which were replaced by buses by 1936.

Following the Civil War, the resumption of industry, trade, and peace were boom times for New York City. Hundreds of thousands flocked to New York and as they did the city expanded. Out of this new growth came with it the Theater District, which teemed with shows, operas, and acts to amuse the city's population. This list highlights some of the theaters that sprung up during the turn of the century.

Association of the Bar of the City of New York ARCHITECT: Cyrus L. W. Eidlitz DATE: 1895-96 STYLE: Classic Eclectic Although severe in its Classic Eclectic design, the limestone facade of this building has great strength and dignity as befits a structure housing distinguished members of the legal profession. With two entrances, one on 43rd Street and the other on 44th Street, the latter is the most important. This consists of a recessed porch with two magnificent fluted Doric columns. A strong horizontal stone band separates the base from the second floor and extends the entire width of the building. Rising above and extending through the third and fourth stories are four pairs of well proportioned Corinthian pilasters forming three distinct bays of which the center one is wider than those on either side. The windows of the third floor are small, but those on the fourth are wide with small Ionic columns at each window.

International Casino, ca. 1937.

Lyric Theatre, 1903. Completed in 1903, the Lyric Theatre actually was one of the only New York theatres with two formal entrances: 213 West 42nd Street (seen here) and 214-226 West 43rd Street. The original occupant of the theatre was supposed to be composer Reginald De Koven's American School of Opera. Unfortunately, the school went bankrupt before construction was completed and the theatre was leased to the Shubert brothers. In 1934 the building became a movie theatre, which it remained until 1992. In the mid-1990s, as a part of the Times Square renewal project, the theatre was gutted and combined with its neighbor, the Apollo, to create the Ford Center. The Ford Center was then renamed the Hilton Theatre in 2005, the Foxwoods Theatre in 2010, and was once again called the Lyric Theatre by 2014. Today the facades of the two formal entrance to the original Lyric Theatre act as the entrances of the modern Lyric Theatre.

Metropolitan Opera, ca. 1905. It was here, at 39th and Broadway, where one of the greatest Gilded Age dramas played out. And it wasn't on stage! As new families made money from finance and industry, old-money New Yorkers tried to maintain their social standing by excluding the newcomers from events and institutions. But when the old guard denied William H. Vanderbilt one of the 18 private boxes at the New York Academy of Music on 14th Street—the city's premiere musical venue—Vanderbilt took a stand. He corralled a group of new-monied bankers and industrialists to create a performance space of their own. The Goulds, Morgans, Whitneys, and Rockefellers were among those who paid $10,000 each to begin a "social war of extermination." They hired the architect J.C. Cady to design the Metropolitan Opera House. The result was a yellow brick structure some called simple and dignified and others compared to a brewery: "Looked at from the street," wrote the New York World, "the building appears like an enormous malthouse. Inside it has the appearance of a Mississippi steamboat." But no one could dispute that is size was impressive. It had 122 boxes (versus the Academy's 18), the largest stage in the United States, and the capacity to fit more than 3,000 people. On opening night, according to the New York Dramatic Mirror, "all the nouveau riches were on hand. The Goulds and the Vanderbilts and people of that ilk perfumed the air with the odor of crisp greenbacks" and "the tiers looked like cages in a menagerie of monopolists." Ultimately, new money won the battle to take center stage in the city's social scene. A little more than two years after the Metropolitan Opera opened, the Academy of Music closed. Its owner told the press: "I simply could not fight a battle with all Wall Street." The Broadway building was torn down in 1967 after a failed attempt by political leaders and preservationists to designate it as a landmark. Since 1966, the Metropolitan Opera has made its home at Lincoln Center.

The New York Herald Building, ca. 1894.

Lord & Taylor Building ARCHITECT: Starrett & Van Vleck DATE: 1913-14 STYLE: Italian Renaissance Revival The Lord & Taylor Building’s Italian Renaissance Revival design began the trend toward more evidently commercial appearances for retail buildings in the Fifth Avenue shopping district above 34th Street. The building and its site wrap around what was historically a separate parcel at the corner of Fifth Avenue and West 39th Street; the ten-story building with its main façade on Fifth Avenue and two developed facades on West 38th and 39th Streets owes its dignified sense of scale to the subtle treatment of its tripartite façade consisting of a two-story limestone and granite base with elegant double-height, vaulted Fifth Avenue entrance and two stories of display windows, a six-story center section of subtly modulated gray face-brick with terra-cotta and patterned brick detailing and multi-light windows, and a two-story limestone colonnade in the Corinthian order supporting a deep copper cornice.

1400 Broadway (at left) and Bricken-Casino Building (no. 1410, at right), December 5, 1935. These two neighboring building rise to nearly the same height and have similar setbacks and white brick facades. 1400 Broadway actually wraps around no. 1410. Both were designed by Ely Jacques Kahn, though the plans for no. 1400 were filed just before Kahn's partner Albert Buchman retired, so it is credited to both. The Bricken-Casino Building has been referred to as a wedding-cake-style office building. It (and its neighbor) were completed between 1930 and 1931. The base of the building (obscured here) is rendered in black granite and brass, while the upper levels have contrasting strips of white and black brick. This building was only one of a number of buildings constructed for developer Abraham Bricken. Bricken was Jewish immigrant who began his career in the garment industry. Turning from garment work to the real estate and construction industry, he was immensely successful. Between 1921 and 1929 his Bricken Construction Company built more than $50 million of real estate in the garment district alone.

Mills Hotel, 1907. Around the turn of the 20th century, banker and philanthropist Darius Ogden Mills had the idea to build residential hotels for single working men. The structure on 36th Street was the final of three hotels built and the largest. Completed in 1907, Ernest Flagg designed the 16-story, neo-Renaissance building. Flagg had written a landmark article in 1896 which decried the problems with the then-standard dumbbell layout of tenement housing. His plans for a "light-court tenement" involved less wall enclosure and greater room space, light, ventilation, and fire protection. After two successful Mills Hotels designed by Flagg, Mills commissioned a final one (though he hired the firm of Copeland & Dole, not Flagg). The building continued to serve as a home for single working men through the 1940s. In 1954 new owners renovated the building in a new, traditional hotel called the Keystone. Later in the 1980s, the building was retrofitted for offices and showrooms and parking lot on the first floor!

The Museum’s ongoing exhibition Activist New York recently debuted a new case study that explores the battle over birth control and obscenity laws that raged in New York at the turn of the 19th century. A visitor to the new “Social Purity” case will notice a photograph of a scantily clad woman lounging in front of a lion skin. This is the dancer Gertrude Hoffman (sometimes spelled Hoffmann), and it was her portrayal of the princess Salome and her subsequent arrest that earned her a spot in the exhibition.

EMPIRE THEATER, MANHATTAN Address: 234 W 42nd St Architect: Thomas Lamb Constructed: 1912 The Empire Theater was designed by premier theater architect Thomas Lamb in 1912 in the heart of the Broadway Theater District. Lamb designed at least 48 theatres in New York City alone during his career. In 1998, it was moved 170 feet westward and now serves as an entry for a 25-screen multiplex, with the original auditorium converted into a lobby and lounge. The exterior remains intact and features a swath of glazed terra cotta in varying colors, which encrusts an enormous rounded archway, the building’s focal point.

"A view of the southeast corner of 45th Street, showing the portion of building containing Loew's New York Theatre, 1935." In 1895 Oscar Hammerstein I opened the Olympia Theatre, which housed a theatre, a music hall, a concert hall, and a roof garden. The complex had two main auditorium spaces: the Olympia Music Hall and the Lyric. Hammerstein was forced to sell the theatre complex in 1898 under financial strain.The imposing French Renaissance building was sold at auction in individual sections, and those sections remained theatrical and cinematic venues under a variety of names over the next 40 years. In this photograph, the darker building at left is the Loew's New York Theatre, which originally housed the Olympia Music Hall (thought it had been reduced in size after Hammerstein sold it). The building at the far right (on the north east corner of 44th Street, behind the large billboard) is the Criterion, which had been the original Lyric. Both buildings and the light colored stone structure at center made up the entire original Olympia complex. In 1936 the entire blockfront was demolished, though some sources claim parts of the original structures was kept. At the south corner of 45th (at left) the International Casino was constructed, while at the north corner of 44th (at far right) a modern movie house called the Criterion was erected.

Koster & Bial's, located at 34th Street and Broadway, on the current site of Macy's department store, was New York's other major vaudeville house in 1898. Built by Oscar Hammerstein in 1892, this was the first theater to bear the name Manhattan Opera House. Hammerstein offered Koster and Bial a partnership if they would take over this theater. The partnership was not a success and, after a succession of managers, the theater was closed in 1901. Offering more of a stag atmosphere, with drinking available on the premises, it attracted many of the top names in variety.

Town Hall ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White; Teunis J. van der Bent DATE: 1919-21 STYLE: Auditorium This auditorium has achieved international renown for its excellent acoustics, a reflection of the architectural design which was based on the scientific analysis of acoustics. For solo performances and small music groups, the auditorium has provided an unrivaled intimate and acoustically fine atmosphere. The architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White was asked by the League for Political Education to design a structure to accommodate the organization’s needs for a speaker’s auditorium, a concert hall, a movie theater, and clubhouse.

Lefcourt-Marlboro Building, 1925. The Lefcourt-Marlboro Building was constructed by George & Edward Blum for Abraham Lefcourt. Completed in 1925, the structure was originally designed as a garment manufacturing building. Its name comes from the site, on which formerly stood the Marlboro Hotel.

On February 11th, 1899, a blizzard known as the Great Arctic Outbreak moved across the United States, reaching as far as Florida, New Orleans, and even Cuba. In New York City, the average temperature was −6 °F and Central Park saw 16 inches of snow, with other areas measuring a record 2-3 feet.

Port Authority ca. 1950 Spanning two blocks on 8th Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, the Port Authority Bus Terminal, depicted here before subsequent renovations, was the largest mass-transit center of its kind in the world when it opened in December 1950. It offered such amenities as heated on- and off-ramps to melt snow, air-conditioned telephone booths, redcap service, and telephones on walls near terminal entrances which allowed customers immediate access to "information girls" who could give departure, fare, tax, and routing information almost instantaneously.

Bush Terminal Building ARCHITECT: Helmle & Corbett DATE: 1916-21 STYLE: Neo-Gothic Combining historical neo-Gothic detailing with a modern, pronounced vertical emphasis, the building represents an important intermediate stage in the development of the skyscraper. Secondary elevations finished with an innovative treatment of trompe l’oeil colored brick piers, and the engineering solutions for the towerlike steel-frame building erected on a very narrow plot were features of interest.

Seventh Avenue facade of Louis Martin's, ca. 1912.

Hammerstein's Victoria Theater, 1899. Oscar Hammerstein's comeback to the theater world was named "The Victoria," because: "I have been victorious over mine enemies, those bloodsuckers at New York Life!" The insurance company had previously shuttered his Olympia Theater complex and two Harlem opera houses. Somehow, Hammerstein convinced the owner of the lot at 42nd Street and 7th Avenue to lease the land to him with no down payment. Over a year, Hammerstein constructed The Victoria: resourcefully utilizing bricks and wood from the demolished livery. The carpet was salvaged from an ocean liner. In 1899, The Victoria opened as a 1,350 seat house - the seats being, of course, secondhand. The theater boasted variety acts, particularly vaudeville and musical comedy. The Victoria closed in 1915. It was razed and replaced with the Rialto Theater.

Eltinge Theatre, 1927. Designed by famous theatre architect Thomas Lamb, this theatre was named for Julian Eltinge, an American stage and screen actor and female impersonator. Funded by producer Al Woods, it was given this name to honor the entertainer who helped Woods built his fortune. Opened in 1912 the theatre featured Woods' new approach to seating for patrons of all sizes: "slender," "medium," and "stout" seats. Woods was forced to sell the theatre during the Depression, and by the late 1930s, it was a burlesque theatre. In 1941 it was converted into a second run movie house, and in 1954 it was renamed the Empire Theatre. In 1998, as part of the renewal plan for 42nd Street, the landmarked building (all 7.4 million pounds of it) was lifted onto tracks and, using steel rollers, moved 170 feet down the block. In its new location, the old theatre building now functions as the ground level facade, entrance, lobby for the 25 screen AMC movie theatre.

Woolworth Store at 33 West 42nd Street, ca. 1940. The Humane Society mobile adoption display (or maybe they are just using the cute kitten to ask for donations) sits on the sidewalk on the north side of 42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The Woolworth Store in the background is in the Aeolian Building at no. 33. The building directly behind the kitten display is the flagship location of Stern's Department Store. These stores made this block a major destination for shoppers, who might have been induced to donate by the cuteness!

Paramount Building ARCHITECT: Rapp & Rapp DATE: 1926-27 The building’s distinctive massing creates a striking pyramidal silhouette which is further enhanced at the upper stories by overscaled consoles, four clock faces recalling the Paramount trademark and a crowning glass globe. Designed by the Chicago-based firm of Rapp & Rapp, who were among the best-known and most prolific designers of elaborate movie theaters in this country in the 1920s, it served as the Eastern headquarters for the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation, forerunner of Paramount Pictures, whose entrepreneurial founders played a major role in promoting the revolutionary motion picture medium.

"White Wings" on Parade, ca. 1896. Pictured here are the White Wings: a brigade of street cleaners who were established by Street Commissioner Colonel George E. Waring Jr. in 1895. Waring treated the sanitation department as an army, mandating his workers to wear all white uniforms and caps. He believed that their white attire portrayed a sense of cleanliness, as much as they helped keep workers conspicuous while on the job, discouraging slacking off at the local saloon. These "White Wings" kept streets cleaner than at any previous time in the city's history. Regulation whites remained in effect until the 1930s (when someone finally decided that whites were not appropriate for street sweeping).

Criterion Theatre, ca. 1925. The Criterion Theatre, originally known as the Lyric, opened in 1895 as part of Oscar Hammerstein's block-wide entertainment complex called the Olympia. In 1898, Hammerstein was forced by his creditors to sell the Olympia complex in which the components were sold separately. All were demolished, making way for the Criterion Theatre, retail stores, and the International Casino nightclub. B.S. Moss built the Criterion Theatre, though he leased the space to Loew’s for 20 years beginning in 1938. The Criterion Theatre later closed in the spring of 2000 and was renovated to become a massive Toys R Us store, which itself closed in December 2015.

New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation ARCHITECT: Carrère and Hastings DATE: 1898-1911 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The Central Building of the New York Public Library occupies a fabulous site, that has often been referred to as “the crossroads of the world”. This majestic marble building, one of the masterpieces of the Beaux-Arts style of architecture, is a magnificent civic monument and fully justifies the pride of its generation and of ours. It sits regally enthroned on a terraced plateau, displaying urns, fountains, flagpoles, sculpture and ornament. Replete with sparkle and delicacy, it is by night or day a joyous creation. This building comes closer than any other in America to the complete realization of Beaux-Arts design at its best.

David Carey was a prolific Jewish actor in the Yiddish Theater.

New York Times Annex ca. 1924 Until 1997, the New York Times was headquartered and printed its papers in a curious châteauesque structure at 229 West 43rd Street, a block from the 1904 skyscraper that gave its name to Times Square. The Annex Building took shape in three major stages of construction from 1913 to 1924. The first section was an 11-story structure at the east end of the site designed by Buchman & Fox that was engineered to anticipate upward expansion. The dignified design of limestone and terra cotta presented the appearance of a university club, but the interior was laid out as a true vertical factory that the Times proclaimed "the greatest and completest newspaper workshop in the world." The need for more space came rapidly. With daily circulation reaching 313,000 copies by 1921, the Times sought to double the plant's printing capacity. In 1922, architects Ludlow & Peabody designed a 100-foot extension on the west side-an 11-story addition on the west, a four-story "attic," and seven-story setback tower rising above the whole in the style of the French Renaissance, which like the Times Tower was ornamented with lavish confections of cream-colored glazed terra cotta. Like the first section of the Annex, the interior was carefully designed and engineered as a purpose-built factory that produced a continuous daily flow of news and newspapers. Every floor was occupied by the functions of the paper. In 1932, Detroit-based architect Albert Kahn added another west wing, and additions in 1947 by Shreve, Lamb, and Harmon that extended the Annex to 44th Street and expanded the overall building size by 61 percent. While many other newspapers moved printing operations to areas with cheaper rents, the Times continued publishing from the Annex until 1997, when they relocated their printing to a new plant in College Point, Queens. Today the 52-story New York Times Building on Eighth Avenue and 41st Street, designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop with FXFowle, completed in 2009, only houses the paper's white-collar workforce.

"The Busiest Restaurant on the World's Busiest Corner." Toffenetti's was opened in 1940, by Italian immigrant Dario Toffenetti. Restaurant mogul had first encountered success in the Midwest, where he opened six restaurants on the Chicago Loop. He opened a seventh temporary location at the 1939 New York World's Fair before establishing a brick and mortar restaurant in Midtown. He purchased a valuable lot in Times Square and commissioned building designed by Walker & Gillette clad in sleek glass, with an escalator, stainless steel kitchen, lavish washrooms, phone booths with air conditioning, and walls covered in surrealist murals by Hugh Troy. Patrons would never guess that Toffenetti found his humble beginning selling baked potatoes in Wisconsin. His 1,000 seat restaurant describes their menu item not as mere potatoes, but "Idaho Potatoes," "bulging beauties, grown in the ashes of extinct volcanoes, scrubbed and washed, then baked in a whirlwind of tempestuous fire until the shell crackles with brittleness." His canny marketing was all the range at the time, and other snippets from his menu included: "Sugar Cured Ham - These hams are cut from healthy young hogs grown in the sunshine on beautifully rolling Wisconsin farms where corn, barley, milk, and acorns are unstintingly fed to them, producing that silken meat so rich in wonderful flavor," and "Spaghetti - one hundred yards of happiness." On the back of the menu, an illustration of Toffenetti - bald head and all, with the motto: "Your satisfaction is our constant inspiration." Toffenetti's served the world's busiest corner 24-hours a day until 1968. The building was demolished in the 1990s to make way for 4 Times Square.

One Times Square, ca. 1908. The building at the center of the image is the Times Tower, built between 1903-1905 for the New York Times. It was designed by the firm of Eidlitz & MacKenzie in a narrow triangular shape and clad in an intricate granite and terra-cotta facade. On New Year's Eve in 1903 Adolf Ochs, the Times' owner, celebrated the evening and made a show of the new building by setting off fireworks from the roof. This continued yearly until 1907 when Ochs changed the midnight event into the dropping of an illuminated ball from the building's flagpole. The Times moved out in 1913 and the building was purchased in 1963 by Allied Chemicals which drastically altered the facade, replacing the granite and terra cotta with marble facing. Over the next four decades the building changed hands a number of times. in 1975 it was further altered by architectural firm Gwathmey Siegel. Since 1995 (when it was purchased by Lehman Brothers) the building has been empty of tenants, except for ground level commercial spaces. The building has been used exclusively as an advertising location and for the yearly New Years activities. It is one of the two most valuable public advertising space in the world (the other being Piccadilly Circus in London).

Knickerbocker Hotel ARCHITECT: Marvin & Davis; Bruce Price DATE: 1901-06 STYLE: Beaux-Arts, French Renaissance The Knickerbocker Hotel is one of the very few grand hotels in the Beaux-Arts style surviving in the Times Square area. The building was financed by John Jacob Astor, the fourth namesake of the patriarch of one of America’s richest families. It is executed in red brick, richly ornamented with French Renaissance detail, and crowned by a prominent copper mansard roof with corner pavilions and cresting.

Since arriving on these shores, dogs have made New York City their home. Here are some of our favorite photos from our partners' collections of New York dogs in their natural habitat!

1450 Broadway ca. 1936 Garment lofts had to be flexible with floors easily subdivided, because space was leased to multiple businesses. Ely Jacques Kahn designed the 43-story Continental Building at the northern end of the Garment District in 1930. In 1931, he divided floors for the new tenants. On the 19th floor, four garment-related firms had their offices, while only one occupied the 25th floor, with its offices and two showrooms. Sign boards at the entries to factory lofts such as the Kaufman Building often listed the names of the multiple tenants renting space.

Knox Building, 1944. Designed by architect John H. Duncan, who also created the Grand Army Plaza Memorial Arch and the General Grant National Memorial, the Knox Building was constructed in 1901 and 1902. The 10-story Beaux-Arts structure was the headquarters for the Knox Hat Company (founded in 1838). The Beaux-Arts style for a commercial building was unique even in a city dotted by buildings of this style, most of which were residences, hotels, and civic buildings. In 1965 the building became the headquarters for the Republic National Bank and in 1985 work was undertaken to construct a 29-story L-shaped tower that hugged the 1902 building. The new construction unfortunately meant the demise of the neighboring Art Deco Kress building. Today the Knox mansard remains a striking visual on the corner, with the HSBC Tower as its modern backdrop.

The physical likeness of the statue of Beauty atop the fountain just south of the entrance steps to the library is the model Audrey Munson, whose countenance and contours have provided the personification of Civic Fame above the Municipal Building; the figure of Abundance as goddess Pomona outside the Plaza Hotel; and “Columbia Triumphant” at the USS Maine Monument for the bombed ship that ushered the US into the Spanish-American War. After a suicide attempt and failing mental health, brought upon by pressure from family and the media, Audrey was checked into an upstate asylum in 1931, where she died over 60 years later at age 104.

St. James Theatre, 1935. Opened as the Erlanger Theatre in 1927, this building replaced the building that housed the original Sardi's restaurant. Its architects were Warren & Wetmore, famed for their work on Grand Central Terminal. Their design of a simple brick facade with an ornate iron loggia (an exterior, covered, but open gallery), was a departure from their more elaborate structures. The interior, though, was awash with French-inspired ornamental detail and its two balconies made it a popular venue for musicals. It was renamed the St. James Theatre in 1930 when it was taken over by the Astor family, who also owned the land it was built on. Eventually taken under the control of the Jujamcyn Theaters, the venue will host 2018's most talked-about new show, Disney's Frozen!

Hotel Langwell, 1922. Designed by George Keister in 1893, the first name of this hotel on 44th Street was the Hotel Gerard. Built in a Romanesque Revival style with touches of German Gothic and Renaissance details, it was opened as a short- and long-term residence for the wealthy visitors to the growing theatre district, political dignitaries, and foreign travelers. The high-peaked hotel stood tall over its largely low-rise neighborhood of the 1890s. It became the Hotel Langwell by 1920 and the once luxury building had deteriorated into what the New York Times called a "disorderly house," a polite phrase for something likely much more seedy. Foreclosed on, sold, and renamed a number of times between 1934 and the 1950s, by the 1970s it was a cheap welfare hotel. It fit in well among the other SROs and cheap thrills of hard-hit and economically depressed Times Square. It was during this time (1982) that the building was named an individual landmark. By the 1990s the neighborhood was beginning its renaissance. This 1893 building was finally emerged for its new beginning after a substantial renovation in 2007 and opened as the high-end residential hotel, AKA Times Square.

Macy's Entrance on the original 34th Street facade, ca. 1975. Macy’s claims to be the first department store in New York City to display festive holiday windows. In 1862, it featured an in-store Santa for children to visit, and several years later, in 1874, the first major holiday window displays. The windows showcased a collection of porcelain dolls from around the world and scenes from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.”

Little Theatre, ca. 1915.

Originally known as Long Acre (also Longacre) Square after London’s carriage district, Times Square served as the early site for William H. Vanderbilt’s American Horse Exchange. In the late 1880s, Long Acre Square consisted of a large open space surrounded by drab apartments.

One of the most drastic New York City #transformations of all time! From 20 million gallons of 💧to 1 million 📚

Nicknamed "The Deuce," West 42nd Street between Sixth and Eighth Avenues was once one of the roughest and seediest spots in New York City. Home to dozens of sex-related businesses, from live sex shows and grindhouses, to peep shows and prostitution, the sex industry dominated the bottom of Times Square in the 1970s and 1980s (long after this photograph of the street was captured).

Though today the stretch of Fifth Avenue from 40th to 42nd Street looks onto Bryant Park and the New York Public Library, in the late 18th century, passersby would be met with a vastly different sight: 50 feet high and 25 feet thick granite walls that could hold up to 20,000,000 gallons of water. This was the Croton Distributing Reservoir and served a crucial role in the development of New York City. The concept of a municipal supply of water began after the growing city had been hit by waves of epidemics due to a lack of clean water (which was only accessible by wells or cisterns). The public outcry that followed prompted the military to create the Aqueduct, which started at dams at the Croton River in Westchester and ended at the Reservoir. The Croton Distributing Reservoir allowed New Yorkers the ability to have running water in their homes and served as the predecessor to the tap water available to us today. Outstripped by the growing city, the Croton Distributing Reservoir became obsolete and eventually was torn down. However, photographs of the imposing walls with their Egyptian facade provide a reminder of this essential relic of city infrastructure that occupied four acres of Midtown.

Wendel Mansion, 1934. In the early 20th century one family could lay claim to the title of most powerful landlords in New York City. The Wendel family owned more than 150 properties in Manhattan and had a net worth of what would be billion dollars today. They owned the land under some of Manhattan's most well known buildings, including the Standard Oil Building and the Time-Life Building. Unlike some flashy real estate moguls (of the past and today) the Wendel's were private in their wealth and their lives. The origins of the families money and land holdings dated to John G. Wendel, a German fur trader who arrived in New York at the end of the 18th century and befriended and then married into the Astor family. The grandchildren of the first John Wendel included six sisters and a brother who lived in a mansion on the corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue. The home had no electricity and no phone, and the inhabitants wore clothes and lived as though they were still in the 19th century. The brother John was known as "The Hermit of Fifth Avenue,” and tightly controlled his sisters' lives until his death in 1914. The home was constructed around 1856 by the first John Wendel. Sitting on a large corner plot, it had a considerable carriage house and back-yard. The ever-frugal family hung their laundry out to dry in the yard, annoying their neighbors. When the final sister died in 1931 the four-story mansion still had gaslights, an ancient coal stove, and more ancient servants. The large yard, which was then an uncommon open space among the large commercial buildings surrounding it had been used largely as a dog park for the last sister's poodle. The family's fortune was divided among a number of charities and institutions, including Drew University in New Jersey. The Fifth Avenue mansion was given as a bequest to the school. The home was demolished in 1934. Today a bronze plaque with a image of the home and a bit of family history graces the structure built in its place.

Macy's, ca. 1928.

The Casino Theatre was designed by Francis H. Kimball and Thomas Wisedel in a Gothic style. It was the home of musical comedies and housed the famous Gilbert and Sullivan attractions. The theater fell to the wreckers' ball in 1930.

Shubert Theatre, with the marque lit for A Chorus Line, ca. 1979.

West 43rd Street facade of the New York City Bar Association, undated photo.

West 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue at the northwest corner, showing Hammerstein's Victoria Theatre, 1904. Oscar Hammerstein I was a late 19th and early 20th-century theatre mogul. Following the financial failure of an early theater nearby, called the Olympia Theatre, Hammerstein quickly rebounded by opening a theatre called the Victoria in 1899. The theatre was built on the site of Gilley Moore’s Market Stables and used the debris of that structure to fill the walls of the new building-- as a cost-saving measure. The theatre also had a popular roof garden called the Paradise Roof Garden, an open-air entertainment venue. Originally a venue for legitimate theatre productions (most of which were not particularly successful), in 1904 Hammerstein turned the place into a vaudeville house (a much more profitable venture). The building was sold in 1915 and demolished. Various theatre buildings were constructed and then razed on this lot over the next few decades. Today the structure at 3 Times Square is an office building known as the Thomson Reuters Building. It is a 32-story glass curtain wall structure completed in 2001.

Seventh Avenue Looking South from 35th Street, December 5, 1935.

Flag pole base in front of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library, ca 1935. The large Carrere & Hastings Fifth Avenue Branch is flanked by two tall flagpoles. The elaborate bronze bases for the poles were designed by Thomas Hastings and are decorated with allegorical and symbolic figures, in the same ornate Beaux Arts style of the library itself. The figures depicted (including people, turtles and owls) represent various human races as well as themes and actions such as Discovery, Conquest, Civilization, Adventure and Wisdom. The bases were created by Menconi brothers (Italian immigrant sculptors) in plaster from drawings by Hastings and the piece was cast in the Tiffany Studios in Queens. The bases were installed in 1912.

Lyceum Theatre, 1977. The Lyceum Theatre is one of Broadway's longest continuously-operating venues. The Beaux-Arts theater, designed by Herts & Tallant, opened in November 1902 with a performance of The Proud Prince. In Edmund Vincent Gillon's 1977 photo, the marquee advertises "Your Arms Too Short to Box with God," a musical interpretation of the Book of Matthew for which Delores Hall won a Best Actress Tony.

Between 1899 and 2002, the northwest corner o Seventh and 42nd Street was occupied by a theatre (with various reputable and less reputable productions). First, Oscar Hammerstein's massive Victoria Theatre presented legitimate theatre before turning—very successfully— to vaudeville. That theatre closed and was demolished in 1915. In 1916 a new theatre building on the site opened. The Rialto sat 1,960 patrons. The venue was exclusively a motion picture house, becoming one of midtown's best-known movie palaces. Paramount sold the building in 1935, and the new owners razed the venue. In its place, a new building with stores, offices, and a smaller theatre, also called the Rialto, rose. That theatre showed films but by the 1970s was screening movies of an adult nature. The period of mature movies was shortlived, and the theatre returned to live performances once again in 1980, also acting as host to a TV studio. Finally, in 2002 the 1935 building with the small theatre was demolished, and a large office building was erected in its place.

Built in 1882, the Casino Theatre signaled a number of firsts for New York's theaters. Since the days of the Astor Place riots, New Yorkers had proved themselves voracious theater fans, and the Casino Theatre, and others like it represented the next step in forming the theater district that would make Broadway famous.

New York Hippodrome ca. 1910 Occupying an entire block on 6th Avenue, with a seating capacity of 5200, the Hippodrome (which opened in 1905) was outfitted on a grand scale. The stage was 200 feet wide and 100 feet deep (large enough for the jai-alai exhibition games played there). It had an 60-foot apron which could be filled with water for aquatic productions. Behind the scenes, hydraulic machines raised and lowered the stage, and an indoor stable housed horses and elephants for circus productions. Such spectacles were so expensive to produce that the theater failed financially and closed in the late 1930s.

Hotel Algonquin, ca. 1907. Completed in 1902, the Hotel Algonquin is perhaps better known for its guests than its building (though its Beaux Arts design with neo-Renasaiance details, created by Goldwin Starrett, is quite lovely). Originally conceived as a residential hotel (for all intents, an apartment building) called the "Puritan," the owners decided to offer short term stays instead. They were also convinced by the hotel's manager (later owner) Frank Case to change the name to the Algonquin. It was in the main dining room here, in the years after World War I, that a group of journalists, authors, publicists and actors began meeting daily for lunch. Referred to as the Algonquin Round Table or the Vicious Circle, the daily exchange of conversation and ideas included core members Dorothy Parker, Robert Benchley, and Robert E. Sherwood, all of whom wrote for Vanity Fair. Meeting daily for the better part of a decade, the salon inspired literary styles and up and coming writers, and resulted in the founding of The New Yorker magazine. Today the historic hotel remains open and it still the home of a hotel cat, a tradition started by manager-owner Frank Case. The current hotel cat is a Ragdoll named Hamlet, for former resident John Barrymore's greatest stage role.

American Radiator Building (at right), December 5, 1938 Designed by Raymond Hood, the American Radiator Building is a striking scene at the mid block of 40th Street. Rendered in black and gold, the 23-story building is largely a free-standing tower. While the bronze and marble entry and ornamentation is neo-Gothic in style, the sleek lines of the building nod towards an Art Deco style, which would not truly come into vogue for a few more years. Hood also included in the design purposeful uplighting for the top of the building, making it the first New York skyscraper with dramatic exterior lighting. (Its nighttime look is immortalized in Georgia O'Keeffe's 1927 “Radiator Building at Night - New York.”) Hood, who for some time in the early 1920s designed radiator covers for the American Radiator Company, would complete this headquarters for the company in 1924. The building remained headquarters for that American Radiator for 65 years (even after a name change to American Standard Company in 1967). Purchased by a Japanese firm in 1988, they intended to convert the building to a hotel. A decade and new owner later, the black and gold skyscraper was converted into The Bryant Park Hotel.

American Radiator Building ARCHITECT: Raymond Hood DATE: 1923-24 STYLE: Art Deco The American Radiator Building, a striking twenty-three story black and gold tower, is one of the finest and most significant skyscrapers in Manhattan. Designed by Raymond M. Hood and built in 1923-24, the American Radiator Building initiated a new trend in skyscraper design in New York City with its bold cubic massing of forms often associated with the Art Deco style and its freedom from the Beaux-Arts classical details that had previously encumbered New York City skyscrapers.

Knox Building ARCHITECT: John H. Duncan DATE: 1901-02 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The Knox Building is one of the finest Beaux-Arts style commercial buildings in New York City. It was designed by the notable New York City architect John H. Duncan who had achieved his reputation with his designs for the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch and Grant’s Tomb. This favored motifs as full facade rustication, large scale ornament, and a two-story mansard roof are carried over from Duncan’s residential designs and here skillfully transmuted to a large commercial building.

New York Public Library This building probably comes nearer than any other in America to the complete realization of Beaux Arts design at its best. Replete with sparkle and delicacy, with its urns, fountains, sculpture, and ornament, it is by night or day a joyous creation. Unlike the legion of heavy Classical buildings that invaded the country after the World's Columbian Exposition, it has somehow managed to keep the light, airy quality which so often is seen only in architectural drawings, so rarely achieved in execution.

Bryant Park Studios ARCHITECT: Architect: Charles A. Rich DATE: 1900-01 STYLE: French Beaux-Arts The Bryant Park Studios constructed in 1900-01, is one of the earliest buildings in New York specifically designed to house artists’ studios. The building’s location across from Bryant Park and its generous windows with northern exposures make it aptly suited for this purpose. Designed by the prominent architect Charles A. Rich, the elegant building displays a complex program of ornamentation in an elaborate French Beaux Arts style. It was also known as the Beaux Arts Building and was commissioned by portraitist A. A. Anderson, an artist with French training and experience, who sought to address the shortage of appropriate artists’ working spaces in the city. Above the retail stores at the street level, prominent design features of the building include: rusticated terra-cotta, terra-cotta and brick banding, dramatic, multi-story stone window enframements with pediments or delicate metal-railed balconies highlighting the studio windows which themselves are elegantly proportioned and divided, and prominent cornices.

Lefcourt Normandie Building, 1944. The Lefcourt Normandie Building was built by Abraham Lefcourt on the former site of Hotel Normandie, a landmark structure that once stood on this corner for more than 50 years. During its heyday, it was one of the most popular hotels in the city. According to a 1928 New York Times article, the Lefcourt Normandie "ranks as the finest in the history of the A.E. Lefcourt realty holdings." It was Lefcourt's twenty-first structure in New York and fourth on Broadway between 34th and 42nd streets. When the building opened in 1928, every square foot of space was leased. The second and third floors were occupied by the Lefcourt Normandie National Bank, a bank Lefcourt founded himself to finance new real estate developments.

The Corduroy Club, located here from March 1967 to 1971, was a significant effort by the pre-Stonewall LGBT community in New York to have a social space that was outside of the control of the Mafia, New York State Liquor Authority regulations, and police arrests and entrapment. The club also hosted a number of early LGBT organizations. In 1986, black fashion designer Isaia moved his clothing label here just as he was becoming one of the most sought-after young designers in the city. He died from AIDS-related complications in 1989.

Main Branch, NYPL Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street (Carrère & Hastings, 1901-11, master plan and restoration: Davis Brody Bond, 1980-2000; South Court addition: Davis Brody Bond, 2000-02; Children’s Center at 42nd Street: Gensler Architects, 2008) NYC IL, NYC INL, NHL The NYPL’s Main Branch is one of the city’s most important civic monuments and most impressive works of architecture. Along with Bryant Park, it is located on the site of the old Croton Distributing Reservoir, once the city’s main source of fresh water. The reservoir’s 50-foot high, 25-foot thick walls were demolished in the 1890s, just as plans were underway for a new central library. Some of the reservoir’s foundations can still be found in the library’s South Court. In 2000-02, a new wing was added to this part of the building and the architects intentionally exposed the foundation wall as a record of the site’s history. Situated on the eastern end of two city blocks, the library’s marble façades and lavish interiors are a masterpiece of the Beaux-Arts style. The firm of Carrère & Hastings, fairly unknown at the time, was chosen to design the building. Their success led to commissions for 14 Carnegie-funded branches across the city, more than any other firm. The building’s front is set back from Fifth Avenue by a grand staircase and terrace that give the façade added grandeur and perspective. The terrace’s two famous lion statues were sculpted by Edward Clark Potter and were originally named “Leo Astor” and “Leo Lenox” after the library’s founders. During the Great Depression, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia nicknamed them “Patience” and “Fortitude.” The main entrance is housed within a triple-arched portico supported by coupled Corinthian columns. The rear, or west façade, expresses and honors the function of the building. Its series of full-height, vertical rows of windows both represent and give light to the seven floors of book stacks within. The steel stacks once held 88 miles of books, which have since been moved offsite. However, the stacks also function as structural support for the building, providing a powerful symbolism to the building’s construction. On all four façades, pedimented pavilions lend visual interest and elegance. When it was completed in 1911, the library bore the distinction of being the largest marble structure in the United States. Formerly known as the Humanities and Social Sciences Library and the Center for Humanities, the building was renamed the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building in 2008 to honor a major gift to the institution. The library functions as a reference, rather than a circulating library, and, as such, includes magnificent interior reading rooms, including the Rose Main Reading Room. This grand space, with arched windows and a fresco ceiling, is one of the most revered interior public spaces in Manhattan. In the 1980s, the institution undertook a major restoration of many of the library’s interior spaces and added two levels of stacks beneath Bryant Park. At that time, the library collection had outgrown the building, necessitating the park’s excavation.

Aeolian Building, 1920. The 18-story building, completed in 1912, boasted a third floor concert hall which hosted performances by many leading musicians of the day — including the 1924 debut of George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

I'm Picketing Your Heart for the Humane Society, ca. 1940.

Lefcourt-State Building, 1944. The Lefcourt-State was the third of four enormous office and showroom buildings in the Garment District that Abraham E. Lefcourt erected on Broadway and the first designed by Ely Jacques Kahn. Built specifically to house jobbers in the high-end dress trade, the building offered 450,000 square feet of rentable space, all of which was leased months before completion. In 1931, sixty-nine firms rented space in the building. The Times reported that "it is estimated that the annual shipments of wearing apparel from this building will reach a figure of over $75,000,000 the first year." Kahn was one of a circle of prominent architects who introduced Moderne, or Art Deco design to New York. For Lefcourt, he designed a powerful building with a four-story stone base, vertical massing, and evenly stacked setbacks, each ornamented with simple geometric detail. Intricate bas-relief brick spandrel panels beneath the windows ( gave additional interest to the façade. Typical of Kahn's buildings, the lobby was a lavish entry with inlaid marble floors, marble walls, complex molded plaster detail, bronze elevator doors, and other features, all now gone.

246 West 38th Street, ca. 1923.

American Radiator Building ca. 1978 One of the greatest problems that confronted our architects was how best to express skyscraper construction. Here there was no precedent, so that many interesting experiments were made, among which this was one one of the most notable. Raymond Hood, using a theme of black and gold, achieved the "new look" for the 1920s; and, although the setbacks above seem to us needlessly agitated, the general effect was original and fairly expressive of the underlying structure. The small, sculptured corbels just above street level are interesting as ornament although by no means original.

44th Street Theatre, date unknown. Originally opened by the Shuberts in 1912 as the Weber and Fields' Music Hall, three years later the comedy due left the space and it was converted into a legitimate Broadway theatre. The theatre, after 1915 called the 44th Street Theatre, was designed by William A. Swansea. The building included a roof top theatre, known by 1918 as the Nora Bayes Theatre, named for a vaudeville performer credited with "Shine on, Harvest Moon." The rooftop venue presented Federal Theatre Project shows in the 1930s, as well as marionette, amateur theatre, and dance companies, while the nightclub in the basement was likely a speakeasy in the Prohibition era. By 1940 the building was owned by the Times Corporation and leased by the Shuberts. In 1942 the nightclub became the Stage Door Canteen, a popular hot spot for American and Allied servicemen. The Shubert Organization lost its lease in 1945 and the building was soon-after demolished.

The Empire Theatre was built by Al Hayman and Frank W. Sanger for Charles Frogman, the architects were John B. McElfatrick and Son. Opening on January 25, 1893, the Empire remained one of New York's favorite theaters until the final performance on May 30, 1953, of The Time of the Cuckoo. An office building was alter erected on this site.

Lefcourt-Manhattan Building, 1928. The Lefcourt-Manhattan Building is one of four office buildings that Garment District developer Abraham E. Lefcourt erected on Broadway. Despite a sharp decline in clothing manufacturing in Manhattan in the late 1920s, Lefcourt's building demonstrated that there was still demand for high-class showrooms and loft space in the city. The structure, which stood on the site of the old Polter Building and Harrigan Theatre, was 90% leased before it was even ready occupancy.

Town Hall, date unknown. The McKim, Mead & White-designed Town Hall was commissioned by the League for Political Education, a woman's suffrage organization. The building, completed in 1921, was designed as a democratic meeting space, where people of all rank and background could be educated on the political and social issues of the day. As part of this democratic spirit, the auditorium was designed without box seats and with the intention that every seat in the house would provide an unobstructed view. Well known for its political events (birth control advocate Margaret Sanger was arrested on stage in 1921 during a speech on contraceptives to mixed gender audience), it has also become a preeminent venue for the performing arts.

A 1920s steeple of class-act Art Deco, the golden tips of the tower are supposed to mimic the hue of a radiator aflame, and symbolic figures at the base of the building represent states of heat such as “lust” and “labor” and “drunkenness.” The lower facade is also decorated with fire-breathing salamanders - a symbol of the court of King Francis I, under whose auspices in 1524 the Italian navigator Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed to the “New World” - allegedly the first European to blaze the waters of Lower New York Bay, and cast western eyes on the shores of Brooklyn and Staten Island. In 1926, Lynn Bomar of the New York Giants stood on the roof of the building and hail mary’d a football into Bryant Park, where Giants halfback Hickey Haines, wearing a waistcoat and tie, caught what the papers called the longest forward pass on record.

Early 20th-century censors, excited about “controversial” subjects being explored in New York’s theaters, focused mainly on sexuality – in particular, homosexuality and interracial relationships. In 1927, the New York Legislature passed the Wales Padlock Law, which made it illegal “depicting or dealing with, the subject of sex degeneracy, or sex perversion,” and offending theaters could be closed. (Similarly, Hollywood movies were subjected to the infamous Motion Picture Production (Hays) Code of 1930.) Although the New York law was not often enforced, and was protested by the theater community, it had a huge and censorious effect on the Broadway stage. Despite the law, which remained on the books until 1967, lesbian and gay characters did manage to make it to Broadway, often in the works of lesbian and gay playwrights. The last Broadway show impacted by the Wales law was Dorothy and Howard Baker’s lesbian drama Trio (1944-45) at the Belasco, which was shut down by the LaGuardia administration two months after opening, but engendered a protest over censorship from theater folks, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the press, and politicians. Two later plays of note at the Belasco were Lorraine Hansberry‘s A Raisin in the Sun (1959-60; 530 performances) that starred Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis, and Diana Sands and had first opened at the Ethel Barrymore Theater, and Frank Marcus’s The Killing of Sister George (1966-67; 205 performances).

Hotel Woodstock, 1907. The 12-story Beaux Arts hotel designed by Mulliken & Moeller opened in 1903 as the Hotel Spaulding. But financial troubles saw the building sold in foreclosure two years later. Purchased in 1906 by new owners and renamed the Hotel Woodstock, the hotel entered into a period of success. In 1911 the building was expanded, adding more than 40 feet to the frontage. A 1912 ad for the hotel notes it "European Plan" and "Special Summer Rates." A room with a nearby bathroom cost $1.50, while one with a connecting bathroom was $2.00 and up. The hotel changed hands a number of times in the next few decades. By the 1970s as Times Square was becoming the seedy hub of porn theatres, peep shows, and drug activity, the hotel too had lost its once classy and professional sheen. It no longer could maintain occupancy and was falling into disrepair. In 1975 the non-profit Project Find took over the building and became the first NPO to manage an SRO (single room occupancy) in New York. They bought the hotel outright four years later. The hotel was completely renovated in 1993 through funding from the City's Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). In 2018 Project Find and HPD partnered again to preserve the affordability of the senior supportive housing SRO. Work included new amenities, rooftop access, facade restoration, and an additional 10 units, bringing the facility up to 291 permanently affordable units.

McGraw-Hill Building. Up shot from 42nd Street, October 4, 1931. The McGraw-Hill Building is an Art Deco structure completed in 1931. Designed by Raymond Hood, it was the second building for publishing company in the city (the first was located at 469 Tenth Avenue). The facade of the 33-story building is covered in blue-green terra-cotta ceramic tiles, alternating with green-metal-framed windows. Starting in 1939 the building housed the headquarters of Timely Comics, which would later become Marvel Comics. In the Captain America #1, creator Jack Kirby gave the building address as the mailing address to which fans could write to the superhero.

Belasco's Stuyvesant Theatre ARCHITECT: George Keister DATE: 1906-07 STYLE: Neo-Georgian This theater was designed as Belasco’s ideal theater by George Keister, an important theater architect, in an elegant neo-Georgian style reminiscent of townhouse architecture and specifically intended to suggest the intimate drama presented by Belasco within. As such it represents an early monument in the development of the “Little Theater” movement in New York.

Seventh Avenue Looking North from 35th Street, December 5, 1935

One of the best parts of a summer in New York City is the wide array of free outdoor programs. There’s nothing like lying back in the grass while hearing crisp notes dance from a trumpet at Kingsborough’s Lighthouse Bandshell. There's nothing like watching the Delacorte Theater reawaken the words of Shakespeare under a starry night. Part of what makes our city so special is that it unites communities and cultures with free arts performances. While we won’t be able to share these moments in the summer of 2020, this story celebrates those experiences in all five boroughs. We hope to see you there next year!

Though few may know of it today, the Hotel Astor was the heart of Times Square for decades. Built at the heart of the theatre district, the Astor was a glamorous destination that helped bring the area to life.

Bryant Park Studios, ca. 1901. Built by artist, Abraham A. Anderson, the 12-story Studios (later called the Beaux Arts Building), was constructed in the first years of the 20th century. Designed by Charles A. Rich, who also designed Barnard College's first building, Milbank Hall, the apartment was specifically designed to house artists’ studios. The building included 24 north-facing double-height studios (north facing being the best for light). The artists often worked and lived in their studios. In the 1920s the building was called the Beaux Arts Building, for the cafe on the ground floor. Anderson remained in his studios, while leasing and then selling the building to a new owner. The building slowing became more of a loft and showroom space throughout the mid century. Today the building is almost exclusively occupied by women’s contemporary casual clothing showrooms.

Seventh Avenue, at and adjoining the southwest corner of 42nd Street, 1929. The large brick building in the background is the Hotel Hermitage. Built in 1907, the 13-story structure was designed by Robert D. Kohn for Timothy F. Paddell, a liquor dealer. The building was a bachelor hotel designed to be "vigorous and modern" with no "conspicuous leanings toward any recognized style," according to a contemporary article in Architectural Review. The base of the building had four double story columns, the middle of the structure was a simple brick facade with subtle arts and crafts style inset decoration, and the top of the building was a mix of Gothic and Art Nouveau in style. In the 1930s what was once a bachelor hotel went the way other surrounding buildings and neighborhood, becoming a bit seedy. In 1943 the building's operator was convicted on charges of prostitution, owing to the fact that the eighth and ninth floors and a separate elevator were exclusively used by prostitutes and their clients. The building had its lower floor columns removed in the 1930s and replaced with a modern facade. In the early 1990s, the hotel (by then renamed the National) and the entire block front of Seventh Avenue between 41st and 42nd Streets was demolished for a 39-story building.

Shubert Theater ARCHITECT: Henry B. Herts DATE: 1912-13 STYLE: Venetian Renaissance, Theater 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. Its significant architectural features include heavy rusticated terra-cotta pilasters and arches, a curving corner entrance pavilion facing Broadway, an elaborate portal, and unusual panels of “sgraffito” ornament. Herts designed a Renaissance-inspired auditorium matching the theater’s “Venetian Renaissance” exterior. Among the most significant architectural features of the interior are its ornamental plasterwork, and the unusual series of painted panels of classical figures that adorn the boxes and the ceiling.

New York Club, ca. 1907 If you asked a well-heeled New Yorker today if he or she knew about the New York Club, you might well be met with a look of confusion. However, that would not have been the case a century ago. Founded in the 1840s, the prestige of the New York Club was such that it was noted as a simple N. in the Social Register. It was so well known that one needn't have a longer signifier. As such, many of New York's prominent citizens were members and its coffers were bountiful. At the turn of the century, the club was feeling confident enough to buy land for a new clubhouse across from Bryant Park and the Ne York Public Library. They retained Henry Hardenberg, known for the original Waldorf-Astoria (and later the Plaza Hotel), to design their nine-story clubhouse. The new home's facade was old New York with red brick and terracotta with common spaces as well as bedrooms. It cost more than a $1,000,000. Opened in 1907, the new location quickly amassed quite a membership, and there were almost 700 members by the start of the First World War. However, like many of its fellow clubs, the Great Depression took its toll on the New York Club and soon they were forced to sell. In 1933, the clubhouse was taken over by a liquor distributor, who used the space for sales and tasting rooms. The New York Club sold the building for less than a quarter of the price it had cost to build. Freedom House (an early human rights and racial equality organization) purchased the building in 1945 and renamed it after Wendell Wilkie, a Republican presidential candidate. During its tenancy, it hosted a number of organizations under its roof, including the NAACP. Doom came for the building in the familiar specter of a bank, the Republic National Bank, purchasing it as part of a midtown expansion. In 1985, its distinctive facade was demolished by workmen before it was sold, with many preservationists speculating that it was a preemptive move to prevent landmarking and a cynical act by the bank. Regardless, without any protection, the Bank demolished the old club as soon as it took ownership of the land.

Greenwich Savings Bank ARCHITECT: York & Sawyer DATE: 1922-24 STYLE: Ancient Roman Philip Sawyer, one of the architects, displayed his knowledge of ancient Roman prototypes, and his appreciation for the organization which characterizes eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French planning, in the adaptation of the Greenwich Savings Bank’s great, elliptical banking room and its accessory spaces, entrance vestibules, foyer, and upper loggias to the bank’s irregular four-sided site. The Greenwich Savings Bank’s interior displays Sawyer’s consummate skill in manipulating the classical architectural idiom to create a spatial allegory, a veritable temple to thrift in limestone, sandstone, and steel.

Built by Ned Harrigan in 1890 and named the Harrigan Theatre, the venue was taken over in 1895 by Richard Mansfield, who changed its name to the Garrick. Mansfield leased it to Charles Frogman, who managed it until his death in 1915, when it was sold at auction. It became the home of the Theatre Guild, and after the Guild relocated it became a burlesque house. Severely damaged by fire in 12932, it was demolished as a safety hazard.

McGraw-Hill Building ca. 1936 The McGraw Hill building located on 330 West 42nd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues was designed in 1931 by architects Raymond Hood and Andre Fouilhoux to meet the specific needs of the McGraw-Hill publishing company that occupied ¾ of the building. With a series of setbacks on its north and south sides, in accordance with New York City's building and zoning codes and the programmatic needs of a book production factory, the McGraw Hill building from east and west has the appearance of an Art Deco stepped tower. From the north and south it appears as a sleek 33 story Commercial Slab building in the International Style. The shock value of its innovative materials, the first clad with machine made terracotta and glass in a provocative blue green color and Hood's avant-garde formal language sets it apart as one of the gems of the city, fondly called "The Jolly Green Giant."

New Amsterdam Theater ARCHITECT: Herts & Tallant DATE: 1902-03 STYLE: Art Nouveau This interior is a rare example of Art Nouveau architecture in New York City. Working in conjunction with sculptors, painters, and other craftsmen, the architects used the Art Nouveau style to carry out a dual theme: the representation of the spirit of drama and the theater and the representation of New Amsterdam in its historical sense as the City of New York. The ornament, sculpture, murals and color scheme are intrinsic parts of the overall scheme. It was designed with innovative and extensive technical facilities to make the New Amsterdam the best possible theater. Many notable artists worked on various aspects of the interior.

Built in 1883 as the New Park Theatre, and containing most of the interior fittings from the Booth Theatre, this playhouse was not successful until 1894 when it booked the Richard Mansfield Company and changed its name to the Herald Square Theatre. It turned to movies in 1912, was sold in 1914, and was torn down to make way for a garment industry building.

"Beauty," ca. 1915. Flanking the main entrance of the Main Branch of the New York Public Library two statues stand, presiding over stone fountains. "Truth," the figure of an old man stands in the niche on the north side, while "Beauty" (seen here) is a young woman. Sculpted by Frederick MacMonnies, the works complement the grand Beaux-Arts style of the building. While the water flowed in the two fountains for decades, it was turned off sometime in the 1980s. Plans for work on the features fell through in 2013, but funding came through a couple of years later. In July 2015, the fountains bubbled with water once again, to the surprise and delight of passersby.

The "naughty, gaudy, bawdy, sporty, 42nd Street." Over the 20th century it was constantly changing: theatre > burlesque > movies> grindhouse> XXX> revitalization. These are the theatres of the "Deuce."

Hotel Gerard ARCHITECT: George Keister DATE: 1893-94 STYLE: Romanesque Revival, German Gothic, Renaissance The Gerard is an exceptionally fine example of an apartment hotel, a very popular building type in the late 19th century. It was designed by architect George Keister in an unusual style that combines late Romanesque Revival and German Gothic and Renaissance forms to create a handsome and sophisticated work. This design reflects Keister’s architectural philosophy. It was in the vanguard of the development of the Times Square area as the center of New York City’s entertainment district and its construction is integrally related to that of the theater district. It is one of the more architecturally distinguished and visually prominent buildings in the west Midtown section of the city.

Cine 42 was a single screen movie theatre that opened in 1974 in a small space next to the New Amsterdam Theatre. The theatre was "twinned" (i.e. converted to two screens) four years later. The venue presented only kung-fu and schlocky movies, surviving until 1992. Today, the building serves as the box office for the neighboring Broadway theatre.

McGraw-Hill Building. Entrance detail, October 4, 1931. ARCHITECT: Raymond Hood; Godley & Fouilhoux DATE: 1930-31 STYLE: Art Deco, Skyscraper Among its important qualities, the McGraw-Hill Building is a unique skyscraper, being both one of New York’s major Art Deco monuments and the herald of the newly emerging International Style. It was designed by the distinguished American architect Raymond Hood who achieved fame as a skyscraper designer. Among its outstanding features are the two profiles, one being a stepped tower and the other a slab, the distinctive blue-green terra-cotta facing, the horizontal window bands, and the entrance treatment. It was built to serve a distinguished American publisher. The building has received wide critical praise since its completion. The building is a key element in the revitalization of the west side.

Gilley Moore's Market Stables, ca. 1850. The site at the corner of 7th Avenue and 42nd Street was once home to Gilley Moore's Market Stables. A stable was not an uncommon sight here in Longacre Square, the area named for London's carriage district, which would later become Times Square. In 1898, the lot was leased to Oscar Hammerstein, who constructed the Victoria Theater.

Algonquin Hotel ARCHITECT: Goldwin Starrett DATE: 1902 The Algonquin Hotel, which opened its doors in 1902, has played host to generations of famous men and women from the literary and theatrical worlds. Most often associated with the legendary Round Table, the group of critics and humorists who convened almost daily in the 1920s for luncheons spiced with quotable conversation am repartee, the hotel has also been frequented by countless others in the acting and writing professions. The particular cultural character of the Algonquin was nurtured by its devoted and congenial proprietor, Frank Case. “I was determined to get the Arts, especially the Theater,” Case later reminisced, and beginning with such illustrious guests as John and Ethel Barrymore, Douglas Fairbanks, Booth Tarkington and Sinclair Lewis, he proceeded to become ‘boniface’ to not only the stars, but to aspiring young artists as well.

Hotel Astor, 1931. Designed by architects Clinton & Russell, the grand Beaux-Arts hotel was completed in 1904. The hotel was the brainchild of William C. Muschenheim, a German businessman and restaurateur. With the financial backing of the wealthy and real estate successful Waldorf family, he constructed an opulent hotel that had a Louis XV–decorated ballroom among other, lounges, restaurants, and massive roof garden. A 1920s New York Times article said this about the rooftop venue, “There is the open-air dancing floor and the restaurant is conspicuous for dangling ferns and trailing vines. A unique feature of the restaurant is the gabled-glass roof over which flows a miniature Niagara.” The grand hotel was demolished in 1967 and replaced by an office tower (today known as One Astor Plaza).

Lambs Club ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White; Stanford White DATE: 1903-05 STYLE: Neo-Georgian The clubhouse of The Lambs is a handsome neo-Georgian style structure designed by the prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead & White. The graceful loggias and fine decorative details give visual emphasis to the special nature of the building. This Club has provided an attractive place for actors to meet in the theatrical district and has made an important contribution to the cultural life of New York City through its theatrical productions.