Trans-Lux Theatre, 1937 Opened on May 16th, 1931, this was one of the city's first purpose-built "twin" cinemas. This second Trans-Lux theatre occupied the retail space of the new Lecourt (later Brill) Building. Its two small auditoriums each had its own box office and entrance, but they shared the wide marquee seen here. Opened during the Depression the twin theatres, which showed newsreels, shorts, and cartoons. The struggling venue limped along until 1937 when boxing champion Jack Dempsey and his business partner took over the space for a self-branded eatery. The Jack Dempsey’s Broadway Bar and Cocktail Lounge opened in 1937 and survived in the Brill Building until 1974. After vacating this space, Trans-Lux opened a much more successful, single-screen theatre at 1607 Broadway.

Bimbo, “the heroic pup,” was a cartoon star before he became the boyfriend of Betty Boop, who originally was drawn with long dog ears. When censorship became a part of the film industry, and as Betty Boop lost her canine features, Bimbo was replaced by a human male, “Fearless Fred.” Readers were instructed to cut out the successive images of Bimbo and practice animation themselves.

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.

Times Square, ca. 1977.

Radio City Music Hall ca. 1976 Radio City, and indeed all of Rockefeller Center, came out of a plan to move the Metropolitan Opera. In the late 1920s, a plan had sprung to use the Rockefeller site to build a new opera house, but due to a lack of an endowment and various internal issues, it was canceled. However, John D. Rockefeller Jr. had been brought in to the prospective plan and had no desire to leave the plan alone. Striking a deal with RCA, Rockefeller imagined Rockefeller Center (and Radio City) to be developed as a media center with large theatres. Theater mogul Samuel Roxy Rothafel, having joined the advisory board in 1930, suggested they build two theaters: The International Music Hall on the north side of the center and the RKO Roxy Theater on the south side of the center. While the design of both theaters was in the hands of Edwin Durell Stone and Donald Deskey, Roxy strived to create a more modern theater through his suggestions. Roxy envisioned a more sleek, oval theater that somewhat eschewed the tiered seatings of others. In its design, Stone matched Radio City Music Hall's exterior to the rest of Rockefeller Center in its use of limestone but designed its now-iconic signs to distinguish it. For its interior, Stone conceived of a grand foyer with high ceilings, a curved staircase, and a 220 square meter mural "Quest for the Fountain of Eternal Youth" painted by Ezra Winter. Deskey supposedly was appalled by Stone's design and created the rococo interior of the theater to help make it palatable in his eyes. Construction began in December of 1931, and a year later, the Radio City Music Hall (the name change from the International Music Hall Stemming from the partnership with RKO) was ready for a lavish public opening. The Rockettes had already made it their home and Roxy had planned a series of elaborate acts. The opening, as it turned out, was a colossal failure, boring even the center's patron John D. Rockefeller, but the design was immediately beloved. Initially running a huge deficit, Radio City Music Hall was forced to begin showing feature films and its mixed film and stage format made it successful. It became a go-to New York venue for premieres and until the 1970s would complete 4 performances of their "spectacle" a day. While in the 60s the hall flourished with millions of visitors, the 70s marked a decline for the theater. On April 12th, 1978, the Music Hall closed its doors, having projected a multi-million dollar loss for the year. With the theater's future in jeopardy, a huge campaign arose to save it. Its interior was landmarked, it was added to the national register of historic places, and many of its devotees protested and voiced their support. Rockefeller Center eventually ended up renovating the Music Hall and changing up its performance roster. Through diversification, use as a venue, and a multitude of strategies, in 1985, the Music Hall posted its first profit in three decades. Since renovated again, the Radio City Music Hall continues to operate and serve up shows such as its famous Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

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.

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

In 1835, artist and entrepreneur Jared Bell pioneered the large-format poster, which was rich with vivid colors to advertise a circus. By 1918, bold imagery and slogans calling attention to food, medicines, and entertainment filled New York's already saturated visual field.

Ogden Goelet Mansion (at right), ca. 1915. The Goelet family arrived in New York in the 17th century and began their real estate acquisitions early on. Ogden Goelet, made rich by the inherited wealth of his bachelor uncle and father, commissioned architect E. H. Kendall to design him a grand mansion. The four-story stone home, complete with light moat and ornate dormers and chimneys, was even more extravagant on the inside, with interiors designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany's early design firm called Associated Artists. The home was finished in 1884 and celebrated with a small society party of 500! The home hosted lavish events for the next few decades before being razed in 1930, following the death of Odgen's wife the year before. It was the last large mansions on Fifth Avenue below Central Park to be demolished.

1231 Sixth Avenue, ca. 1937. The crowd here on the west side of Sixth Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets stand in front of a number of employment agencies. These include the Claremont Agency at no. 1231, the Atlantic Hippodrome Employment Agency at no. 1233, and the Geneva Agency at no. 1235. Though undated, the scene belies the massive employment lines that crowded New York streets for much of the Depression. The 50th Street station of the Sixth Avenue Elevated line is seen in the background. Service on this line ceased in late 1938 and it was razed in 1939, dating this photo to sometime prior.

Alvin Theatre, September 1935. Built in 1927 as the Alvin Theatre, the Broadway house was designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp for the developer and real estate mogul Alexander Pincus. The name Alvin was a portmanteau of the names of producers Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley. The theatre opened with a premiere of George and Ira Gershwin's 'Funny Face' with Fred and Adele Astaire. Gershwin also had his best known musical 'Porgy and Bess' premiere here in 1935. The theatre was renamed for playwright Neil Simon in 1977, after the Nederlander Organization bought the building. In the 1980s the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated a number of Broadway Theatres, including this one (in 1985).

Hotel Mansfield ARCHITECT: Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen DATE: 1901-02 STYLE: Beaux-Arts BEAUX-ARTS MANHATTAN MIDTOWN WEST The Hotel Mansfield is a 12-story, red-brick and limestone Beaux-Arts style hotel located on the same prestigious Midtown block as the New York Yacht Club, the former Yale Club, the Harvard Club, the former Mechanics’ and Tradesmen’s Institute, the New York Bar Association, and the Algonquin Hotel. The Hotel Mansfield was an early example of the apartment hotel type that catered to well-to-do single men and childless couples, who resided in these buildings on a semi-permanent or even permanent basis, taking advantage of the services on offer such as common dining rooms, maid and laundry services, valets, and even private physicians. The architects Renwick, Aspinwall & Owen designed the Hotel Mansfield in the Beaux-Arts architectural style, in part, because of the style’s residential associations and flamboyance, which helped to set the hotel apart from other building types, such as office or commercial buildings.

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.

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.

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.

Radio City Music Hall (Rockefeller Center) ARCHITECT: Associated Architects DATE: 1931-32 STYLE: Art Deco The Radio City Music Hall is the only surviving Art Deco theater in the country to incorporate so great a variety of architectural, artistic, and decorative features. When the Music Hall was completed in 1932 it was rapidly recognized both nationally and internationally for its artistic and technical excellence and it was considered one of the finest designs in the history of modern theater. The artwork in the Music Hall was executed in novel materials by the leading designers, sculptors, and artists of the period. The auditorium of the Music Hall incorporates many unusual features, such as shallow balconies and side ramps. The great arched ceiling of the auditorium incorporates the complex lighting system as well as the air-conditioning and sound equipment. It is the only theater of its kind in the country, making it a principal attraction to New Yorkers and tourists.

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.

Jack and Charlie's "21," date unknown The story of the bar that ended up here at 21 West 52nd Street began downtown. Cousins Jack Kriendler and Charlie Berns opened a speakeasy called the Red Head on East 4th Street in 1922. Jack and Charlie's venture moved to 88 Washington Place (it was called the Fronton here) and then 42 West 49th Street (called the Puncheon Club here). The Puncheon Club became one of the most popular speakeasies in town, with famous actors, artists, and politicians as regulars. They were forced out of their 49th Street digs by the development of Rockefeller Center in the late 1920s. Reopened as "Jack and Charlie's 21" here circa 1930, the club continued its illicit activities. They had clever ways to avoid detection. If the case of a raid, employees would push a button to enact a system of levers used to tip the shelves of the bar, sweeping the bottles down a chute and into the city's sewer system. After Prohibition ended the venue continued as a bar (legally) and restaurant. Supposedly a number of celebrities and politicians (JFK, Elizabeth Taylor, Sammy Davis, Jr. to name a few) have stored their personal wine collections here. Known today at the 21 Club, the 37 jockeys that line the facade remain (and even got a restoration in 2015).

My Archive Summer 2019 "In 1996 we got married at the now-demolished Roseland Ballroom off Times Square.. the first and last time our names were on a Marquis. We finally found a place to host 600 people at an affordable rate. This old dance hall had seen better days but we all fit in. It was a hoot." —Brocha Metzger @gothamfairytales

Globe Theater/Lunt-Fontane Theater ARCHITECT: Carrère and Hastings DATE: 1909-10 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts style facade of this building is an unusually handsome design. This design reflects Carrere & Hastings’s earlier celebrated New Theater, now demolished. Its significant architectural features include a five-bay arcade of double-height Ionic columns, deep cornice, and sculpted figures of theater masks.

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.

Central Substation, IND Subway, entrance detail, ca. 1994. Much of the infrastructure for the IND subway lines are designed in an Art Deco syle owing to their construction in the late 1920s and 1930s. This Central Substation was the largest of the IND powerhouses. The building is four-stories and constructed of a tan brick. Completed in 1932, the Art Deco lettering and ornamentation above the doors and at the roofline still remains.

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.

Longacre Theater ARCHITECT: Henry B. Herts DATE: 1912-13 The design of the auditorium incorporates a configuration notable for its intimacy, including an unusual square proscenium opening, and a two balcony arrangement. The Longacre was built to house the productions of Broadway producer and baseball magnate Harry H. Frazee, at one time the owner of the Boston Red Sox.

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.”

Windsor Hotel, 1885.

Times Square ca. 1923

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.

Built on the site of the Capitol Theater, the Uris Building was built in 1970. Designed by Emery Roth and Sons, the 48 story tower was developed and owned by the Uris brothers. Following a series of vacancies in the 70s, the building was sold to Paramount.

Americana Hotel, ca. 1970. Constructed on the plot that was once occupied by a massive Moorish castle-esque warehouse, the Americana of New York was one of the tallest hotels in the world when completed in 1962. It was also the first hotel with over 1000 rooms to be built since the Waldorf-Astoria in 1931. Designed by Morris Lapidus, better known for his "Miami Modern" style, the Americana was rendered in a bent slab style with some modern flourishes at the ground level entrance. The hotel hosted famous performers at its supper club, The Royal Box. It also was the location for a number of political events, serving as Democratic headquarters for the 1976 Democratic National Convention and 1980 Democratic National Convention. In early November 1972, Brooklyn Congressman Shirley Chisholm stood up in front of 1300 supporters to announce her intention to run for the Presidency. The hotel still stands today as the Sheraton New York Times Square Hotel and remains one of the tallest hotels in the world.

Chalmers Knitting Mill was founded in Amsterdam, New York (on the Mohawk River, northwest of Schenectady) in 1901. They used a revolutionary knitting process to manufacture long underwear (which was a ubiquitous article of clothing for men at the time). The patented process was called 'Porosknit,' and it left small holes in material allowing a person’s skin to breathe (union suits up to that point were usually hot and uncomfortable). They later further transformed the underwear market in the 1910s by dividing the union suit into two pieces — top and bottom. (oh happy day!) The underwear company had an uneven financial history but tended to do well during war years as they manufactured goods for the military. 1917 must have been a flush year as they were able to afford a fancy electric sign in the prime location of Times Square!

My Archive Spring 2019 "I love old photographs of buildings and architecture, especially if my family is in them! This is my beautiful Mom, Maria Bambace Lofaro, who had immigrated from Italy a few years before this photo was taken, so this must be around 1953-54? A family friend or relative must have taken it. This could have been a big outing for my Mom because she lived in Greenwich Village, and they ventured to Midtown." —Mary Lofaro

Alvin Theater ARCHITECT: Herbert J. Krapp DATE: 1926-27 STYLE: Neo-Georgian, Adamesque The Alvin Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. It was designed for Alex Aarons and Vinton Freedley, producers of some of Broadway’s most successful musical comedies. The facade designed for the Alvin by Herbert J. Krapp, the most prolific designer of Broadway theaters, is an exceptionally handsome neo-Georgian design. This facade, based on elegant proportions and Adamesque detailing, distinguished the theater headquarters of Aarons and Freedley, and as such represents a special aspect of the nation’s theatrical history. The Alvin Theater Interior was designed in Adamesque style. The elegant Adamesque detailing distinguished the theater headquarters of Aarons and Freedley, a company that produced some of Broadway’s most successful musical comedies. It represents a special aspect of the nation’s theatrical history.

Manhattan Storage, 1936. Constructed in 1899 as a warehouse for the Manhattan Storage Company, this massive building was designed by the firm of J. E. Ware & Son. Ware was most famously known as the creator of the "dumbbell" or "old law" design of New York City tenement buildings. He won a tenement design contest in 1879 organized by a magazine in response to the new housing law that required air shafts.

My Archive Summer 2019 “My family is on the way to Radio City for my birthday celebration. But what is a visit to the city without going to Rockefeller Center? I love the hats my sister and I are wearing. That was when you dressed up to go to the City. We were from Bayside, Queens, so Manhattan was always the City. We are wearing hats and white gloves.” —Marueen Engeleit

The design and craftsmanship within the spaces Goelet Building make it among the finest examples of an Art Deco commercial interior. The marble polychromy, the horizontal and vertical battens, the inlay, and the aluminium leaf, characteristic components of the Art Deco, effectively define the sequence of these spaces. Robert Goelet, a financer, and real estate developer wished a building that would be comparable in architectural merit and prestige to the family mansion it replaced and would also complement the use and appearance of the buildings of the adjacent Rockefeller Center, then under construction. The decoration of the ceilings covered with aluminum leaf, with the exception of the Goelet swan, a specific and realistic referent to the client, offers a broad range of stylized and geometricized Art Deco elements.

W.H. Vanderbilt Residences ca. 1898 William H. Vanderbilt purchased the entire block front on the west side of Fifth Avenue between 51st and 52nd streets in 1879, having recently inherited a fortune from his father, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Architects John B. Snook and Charles Atwood designed twin houses connected by a glass atrium and entrance vestibule, and the famed Herter Brothers decorated the houses with such extravagance that Artistic Houses devoted 17 pages to its interiors upon their completion in 1883. W.H. Vanderbilt and his wife lived in the southern house, while their two daughters and sons-in-law occupied the other.

RFK was interviewed on WEVD radio, an indication of the Forward’s deep support of progressive politics. The call letters are the initials of American socialist leader Eugene V. Debs, who was a candidate for president four times, including once from prison, where he was serving time for defying a court injunction against a strike.

New York Yacht Club, 1908. Founded in 1844, the New York Yacht Club has long been the home of New Yorkers' most prestigious yachtsmen. From the beginning the New Yorkers distinguished themselves. Winning America’s Cup in 1857, the New York Yacht Club successfully defended it twenty-four times in a row before losing in 1983, the longest winning streak measured in years in the history of sports. Its current (and primary clubhouse) was built in 1901 following a series of lesser homes throughout the city. The NYYC commissioned the architecture firm Warren & Wetmore to design them a permanent home in 1898. The resulting Beaux-Art design established Warren & Wetmore’s reputation and in 1987 was designated at National Historic Landmark.

Sperry-Rand Building, September 11, 1963. Designed by the firm of Emery Roth & Sons, the massive Sperry-Rand Building, completed in 1963, stand 43-stories high and includes two million square feet of space. In the 1970s the Sperry Corporation, which had been founded in Brooklyn in 1910 to manufacture navigation equipment, sold typewriters, office equipment, electronic digital computers for business and the military, farm and aviation equipment, and consumer products like razors. These items were each produced under their own separate businesses but they formed the Sperry conglomerate.

Each month the Landmarks Conservancy highlights New York City’s extraordinarily rich architectural heritage by featuring a different building style or function. As the City we love continues to reopen we are proud to celebrate the return of Broadway and the magic of live theater and will feature many of the majestic houses that have hosted iconic music and memorable performances across the decades.

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.”

Church of St. Mary the Virgin Complex ARCHITECT: Napoleon Le Brun & Sons; Pierre Le Brun DATE: 1894-1985 STYLE: Gothic-inspired St. Mary’s was designed to evoke, in the church and Lady Chapel, the 13th-century French Gothic style and, in the Rectory, Clergy and Mission Houses, the 14th-century French Gothic style. The result is one of the finest Gothic-inspired designs of New York’s late 19th-century. The steel frame construction of the church can be said to have made the building the first of its kind and size in the world, thus redefining the conventional methods of ecclesiastical building construction. Among the building’s several specific Anglo-catholic characteristics are the subjects selected for the sculptures of J. Massey Rhind.

Rockefeller Center at Christmas, ca. 1945 While the official Christmas tree tradition at Rockefeller Center began in 1933– when 30 Rockefeller Plaza opened, its tradition began during the Depression-era construction when workers decorated a smaller 20 foot tree on Christmas Eve. According to Rockefeller Center, workers pooled money for that tree with the garlands made by workers' families.

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.

My Archive Spring 2019 "Art Paradise: with my buddy Josh exploring midtown, the late 90s." —Ethan Wolff

My Archive Summer 2019

Sixth Avenue El demolition at 50th Street, 1939. Constructed in the 1870s, the Sixth Avenue El was the second elevated line erected in the city (after the Ninth Avenue El). After nearly 60 years of shadowing Sixth Avenue, shaking its adjacent buildings, and dropping all sorts of debris from its tracks, the Sixth Avenue El's death knell was sounded when the city began work on the underground Sixth Avenue Line in 1936. The city purchased the line for $12.5 million and made plans for its demolition. Following a loud and boisterous trip, as passengers stripped the train car for souvenirs, the final IRT Sixth Avenue Elevated train rumbled into the station at 53rd Street and Eighth Avenue at 11:26pm on December 4, 1938. The last passengers made off with destination signs, light bulbs, and straps, all the while smoking cigarettes in flagrant disregard of the printed signage (which was likely stolen too)! The process of razing the elevated structure began in early 1939. The Wurts Brothers captured this crowded process of demolition at 50th Street. The IND Sixth Avenue Line opened in December 1940, two years and one week after the elevated ceased operations.

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.

Completed in 1961, the Equitable Life Assurance Building was designed in the International style by the firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (architects of Lever House and the Manufacturers Hanover Trust, among others). With this new building, the Equitable Company moved uptown from its long-held (and disaster-tinged) location at 120 Broadway. The building includes a 42-story main tower and a 14-story mid-block wing. Rendered in a glass curtain wall with low profile aluminum spandrels, the building appears to have a glassier facade than it truly does. The occupancy of the building was well announced with massive lighted signage at the top floors. Once reading Equitable, the lighted sign now declares UBS the building's major tenant.

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.

Designed expressly as a showcase for jewelry, this building has always provided an exquisite background for the display of gems and silverware. The simple show windows are well set off between handsome piers which lead the eye up to one of the most beautiful cornices in Manhattan.

Roxy Theatre ca. 1932 One of the great, lost movie theaters of New York City, the RKO Roxy Theatre was like a little sibling to Radio City Music Hall, both of which opened in December 1932 on the Sixth Avenue side of Rockefeller Center. It wasn’t as large or as sumptuous as Radio City, but it still boasted a distinctively elegant Art Deco design. Intended to be a movie palace, it claimed to have the largest chandelier in the world in its auditorium, and when visitors weren’t busy enjoying the entertainment, they could descend from the Grand Foyer to the Grand Lounge in the theater’s basement. In spite of the building’s charms, however, it was never a great commercial success. Known as the Center Theater for most of its existence, it tried hosting live shows, television broadcasts, and even some ice skating, before eventually being demolished in 1954.

30 Rock ca. 1938 Rockefeller Center has a visionary dimension: it materialized a microcosm of the twenties' ideal, rationalized city of the future. Unprecedented in its sweeping scale of "urban renewal" (decades before the term was invented), Rockefeller Center replaced three full city blocks of low-rise, low-rent buildings, stretching from Forty-eighth to Fifty-first Streets between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, with a skyscraper complex of more than a dozen mixed-use buildings, with its multiple towers, widely spaced for sunlight and views. The centerpiece of the harmonious architectural ensemble was the seventy-story RCA Building, a tower that took the new form of a "slab," rather than the stepped pyramid produced by the zoning law, and that achieved a titanic scale, a volume of more than two million square feet, that was matched only by the Empire State Building. Raymond Hood and Harvey Wiley Corbett collaborated as key senior figures on the Center's larger team of designers, called the Associated Architects of Rockefeller Center. In the earliest stages of the design, Corbett advised on the overall site plan, advocating for plazas and arcades, a two-story commercial mall that bridged the cross streets, and separate pedestrian and vehicular zones, as in his visionary proposals. Hood's major contributions to Rockefeller Center were the massing of the RCA Building and the introduction of roof gardens throughout the complex.xtensive development of roof areas as interlocking gardens and a lofty observation deck created a romantic landscape in the sky that surpassed the visionary drawings by Hugh Ferriss of the early 1920s. Raymond Hood saw roof gardens as a transformative element in the modern metropolis. He objected to ìthe dirty-brown cluttered waste of unrelieved ugliness which is the roof view of New York we have accepted as inevitable.î Instead, as he wrote in "Hanging Gardens of New York," The New York Times Magazine article shown here, tower occupants could enjoy "a picture to which art and nature have contributed color and design with a note of gayety." Hood proposed nearly seven acres of gardens for Rockefeller Center, covering two thirds of the total roof area. To sell this idea to his businessmen clients, Hood emphasized the gardens' economic value. Water H. Kilham Jr., who worked on the project, recounted how Hood approached the developmentís manager J. R. Todd, disingenuously inquiring how much rental value might be gained if the Center's towers overlooked an open space like Bryant Park. When Todd replied "Around an additional dollar per square foot." Hood exclaimed: "A dollar, Mr. Todd! . . .Do you know there will be about seven acres of roof over the lower parts of Radio City? A lot of office space will look out over those roofs. At a dollar more per square foot extra you could afford to landscape those roofs like the hanging gardens of Babylon." Not long afterward, Kilham recalled, "the architectural sculptor RenÈ Chambellan was indicating foliage in plasticine on the model of the roofs, and I was working out a system of wire netting that would retain the roots of trees so they wouldnít blow over in the relatively shallow soil." About four acres of gardens were actually constructed at Rockefeller Center.

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.

Brill Building ARCHITECT: Victor A. Bark, Jr. DATE: 1930-31 STYLE: Art Deco Designed in the Art Deco style by architect Victor A. Bark, Jr., the white brick elevations feature handsome terra-cotta reliefs, as well as two niches that prominently display stone and brass portrait busts that most likely portray the developer’s son, Alan, who died as the building was being planned. A remarkable number of tenants have been music publishers, but the building is also notable for attracting an evolving roster of songwriters, booking agents, vocal coaches, publicity agents, talent agents, and performers

Cort Theatre, undated. Built in 1912 by famed theatre architect Thomas W. Lamb for producer John Cort, the Cort Theatre sat more than 1000 patrons. The exterior was modeled after the Petit Trianon, a small chateau on the grounds of Versailles, while the interior was decorated in an over the top Louis XVI-style with marble and elaborate plaster panels. The Shubert Organization has owned the theatre since 1927, and it was named a designated NYC landmark in 1987.

Helen Hayes Theatre, West 46th Street, ca. 1977. Constructed in 1911 by Herts & Tallant as the Folies-Bergers, a dinner theatre with vaudeville, the venue was only open under this name for six months. (Though that was enough time for an 18-year-old Mae West to be discovered during her Broadway debut that September.) The Moorish Revival structure, with its striking gold, turquoise, and ivory terra cotta facade was renamed the Fulton Theatre in October 1911. The dining tables on the orchestra level were replaced with traditional seating. The 895-seat auditorium saw both films and theatrical performances over the next few decades. Bela Lugosi starred in “Dracula” for 265 performances in 1927 and “Arsenic and Old Lace” with Boris Karloff premiered in 1941 and played for 1444 shows. In 1955 the theatre was renamed for Helen Hayes, the "First Lady of American Theatre" and EGOT winner. The venue survived until 1978 when it (and its neighbors the Morasco, Bijou, Astor, and Gaiety Theatres) were threatened with demolition. Despite the Hayes and the Moroasco being deemed eligible for for the National Register of Historic Places, demolition began in March of 1982. It is interrupted briefly when a number of actors are arrested for obstructing the work and is halted, again only briefly, when the the owners are forced to comply with a ruling to preserve objects of historic and architectural interest. Today on the lots that once were occupied by the five historic theatres sits the 1985 Marriott Marquis Hotel, which has its own Broadway theatre. Despite their inaction in this case, by 1987 the Landmarks Preservation Commission had individually landmarked 25 Broadway theatres. In 2011, 50 pieces of terra cotta collected from the ruins of the Helen Hayes facade went up for auction.

View of Rockefeller Center from 30 Rockefeller Plaza, ca. 1934.

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.

Forrest Hotel, pictured at left, next to the Eugene O'Neill Theatre.

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.

Charles Scribner's Sons Building ARCHITECT: Ernest Flagg DATE: 1912-13 STYLE: Beaux-Arts The interior of this building is a fine example of Beaux-Arts commercial space, which created an appropriate image for the sale of books. It represents Ernest Flagg’s ideas on the interrelationship of exterior and interior design and planning. The flamboyant ironwork which frames the first floor interior exemplifies some of the best design and craftsmanship of the early 20th century. The two-story vaulted space, organized as a basilica-like form, with its mezzanine, balconies, and clerestory is outstanding for its complex spatial elements and beauty of form, as articulated in the elegant mirrored end-wall, graceful central staircase, spiral staircase on the south side, and delicate cast-iron railings.

International Building Interior ARCHITECT: Associated Architects DATE: 1933-34 STYLE: Modernist The ground floor interior with accompanying mezzanine floor interior of the International Building is one of the grandest and most dramatic interior spaces in the Rockefeller Center complex and a major component of the Center’s second largest building. This interior follows the east-west axis of the International Building at the northern end of the Center. The lobby gains its effect from the form of the space and its decorative finishes. The elements of the design and rich materials are not only characteristic of Modernist design, but are also some of the finest examples of their type.

Central Doorway of RCA Building, 1933. Designed by Raymond Hood, the head architect of the Rockefeller Center complex, 30 Rockefeller Plaza was originally built for the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) between 1931 and 1933. The 30-story building has an austere Art Deco facade with Gothic elements. The Art Deco decoration is best seen at ground level and features heroic and mythical themes (inspired by the Rockefeller's philosopher consultant). The relief above the center door seen here was created by Lee Oscar Lawrie, a preeminent architectural sculptor (he also created the statue of Atlas with Rene Paul Chambellan for the complex). The relief called Wisdom considers the power of universe; the central, bearded figure (biblical or perhaps Zeus) holds a compass. He is blowing away clouds, which represent ignorance. With the compass he is directing the cosmic forces. The quote inscribed below the figure comes from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah: "Wisdom and Knowledge Shall Be The Stability Of Thy Times." He is flanked by smaller reliefs depicting Sound and Light.

Windsor Arcade ca. 1907 Though long gone now, the Windsor Arcade once sparkled with lightbulbs, columns, and ornaments as people wandered through its shops. However, its whimsical nature covered up a much more serious history. It was St. Patricks Day, 1899 when parade attendees suddenly began to notice cries for help and smoke coming from the 1872 Windsor Hotel. Horror soon struck the crowd as they watched people throw themselves from windows and become engulfed in flames. The fire escapes, which were simply ropes, couldn't adequately assist victims in reaching the ground; many fell to grievous injury or death. In the end, almost a hundred people perished in the fire and the hotel was entirely raised. While Warren Leland, the hotel's manager, wished to rebuild, Eldridge T. Gerry, the owner of the land, rented the space to billboards while considering the problem. Eventually, Gerry's architect, Charles Berg came up with the flamboyant Beaux Art structure that Gerry dubbed "The Windsor Arcade." The Arcade occupied a full city block, complete with street-level stores, offices on the second story, and studios on the third. All this surrounded a courtyard with an elaborate arcaded entrance on Fifth Avenue. Lit up by electric light bulbs, many argued about its taste, but none could deny that set among around the surrounding brick buildings, it was eye-catching. The Windsor Arcade eventually meet its end as well; it was demolished in parts during the early 20th century, giving way to towers.

Chanin Theatre, ca.1925. Designed by Herbert J. Krapp for producers Irwin and Henry Chanin, Chanin's 46th Street Theatre opened in 1925. Soon after the Chanins leased it to the Shuberts who bought it outright in 1931. Known as the 46th Street Theatre between 1931 and 1990, the Nederlander Organization (its new owners as of 1981) renamed it in honor of composer Richard Rodgers in 1990. The theatre included a number of innovative features including a sloped orchestra level which offered excellent sight lines, and Chanin's 'democratic' seating plan, in which all patrons entered through the same doors regardless of ticket level. This theatre has the distinction of presenting the greatest number (11) of Tony Award-winning Best Plays and Best Musicals. Since summer of 2015 it has been the home of the musical phenomenon, Hamilton.

Seventh Avenue, north from West 48th Street, ca. 1929.

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.

Mechanics Institute, ca. 1915. The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen was founded as an institution in 1785 to provide cultural, educational and social services to families of skilled craftsmen. In 1820 the General Society opened one of the city’s first free schools. Following the city getting its act together regarding public education, the Society converted their free public school in the Mechanics Institute in 1859. The Mechanics Institute provided adult education, particularly in technical subjects, and library was thought to be an alternative venue for adults (to keep the working classes from gambling and drinking). In 1899 the General Society moved into the Renaissance-style building on 44th Street. The building had been constructed in 1891 as the Berkeley School, a private boy's prep school. Designed by Lamb & Rich, the building had the look of a library or professional association, with large banks of windows on the second and third floors. The school founder sold the building to the General Society after some financial issues, and the large drill hall on the first floor was converted into the library. In 1905 the General Society also had architect Ralph Townsend add three stories to the top of the building and remove the the stoop to create a ground-floor entrance. Today the building continues to provide free educational programming. And in a contentious deal in 2008 the institution sold their unused air rights, which allowed a developer to add additional stories to an already planned new building around the corner.

On October 20th, 1996, in the F.Y.I. column of the New York Times, a reader wrote in: "When I was a child back in the 1950s, I seem to recall shaking hands with Mr. Peanut in Times Square. Was I dreaming?" The response from the Times was no, and the explanation that "Mr. Peanut was an employee of the Planter's Peanut store at 1560 Broadway." The store is pictured in the above postcard. Planter's Peanuts was founded in 1906 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Mr. Peanut, its dapperly dressed mascot, was developed in 1916 and has changed very little since. Planter's opened stores across the country, operating about 200 locations by 1960. The Times Square location was the largest of the franchise. The store and its 15,000 bulb sign became an icon in its own right, quickly gaining popularity in the years following the end of World War II. The "Planters Peanuts Advertising and Collectibles," a 1978 guide to the memorabilia of the company written by Richard D. and Barbara Reddock, is quoted in the Times' response, describing the Broadway location shop with "glass display cases, a roasting machine, a large 10-foot papier-mache Mr. Peanut, a cast-iron Mr. Peanut scale... a couple of costumes." These costumes included Mr. Peanut's quintessential black cane, and an outfit of "white spats, cuffs, and gloves," to accessorize the hard-plastic "shell" mask and top hat an employee would have to wear over his head. For the duration of the workday, Mr. Peanut could be seen parading up and down Broadway. On some occasions, he would even give out free bags of peanuts. The Times Square shop was closed in 1961. Standard Brands acquired Planter's Peanuts, which saw little need for retail stores. The rest of the Planter's stores followed suit.

"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.

Barrymore Theater ARCHITECT: Herbert J. Krapp DATE: 1928 STYLE: Elizabethan The Barrymore was built in honor of and named for Ethel Barrymore, one of the nation’s most famous actresses. Its interior is an exceptionally handsome and harmonious design reflecting Elizabethan influences. Among its outstanding characteristics are plasterwork ornament in a strapwork pattern, unusual box treatment, and a coved ceiling with a dome.

Lines in front of Employment Agencies, date unknown (1930s).

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.

Construction on the IRT Broadway-Seventh Avenue Line's 50th Street Station, outside the American Horse Exchange building, July 14, 1902. William K. Vanderbilt built the American Horse Exchange in 1881, creating a massive full-block hub for the city's elite to quite literally horse trade. An 1896 fire caused extensive damage to the structure, killing 60 horses. Vanderbilt restored the exchange and in 1910 leased it to the Shubert family, who converted the property into the Winter Garden Theatre, today known as the venue where "Cats" had its 18-year run.

Harvard Club Originally designed by McKim as a discreet Georgian building of a modest scale, it stands on a block where it once enjoyed as neighbors the Racquet Club, the Academy of Medicine, and the Berkeley School. Two wings were added behind it at a later date. Harvard Hall is probably one of the largest rooms in any club in New York, extending three stories in height, and in length the depth of a normal townhouse lot. The Florentine quality of the design, the two great fireplaces, and the tapestries all lend an air of subdued richness and warmth to this fine room.

Residence of Mr. Blakely Hall, 1896. Blakely Hall was a reporter who wrote for the New York Sun. Of his most notable projects is his chronicling of Evander Berry Wall, the proclaimed "King of Dudes." Wall was an extravagant dresser who owned around 500 complete outfits that earned him the title of a "dude." In the late 19th century, "dude" referred to "a man extremely fastidious in dress and manner," similar to the word "dandy." Wall embraced this term and made it his mission to become the "King of Dudes." Hall awarded Wall the title of "King of Dudes" during the Blizzard of 1888 when he walked into a bar wearing thigh-high patent leather boots. From then on, Hall made it his weekly practice to publish articles concerning Wall's outings and adventures.

Roxy Theater ca. 1927 When Samuel L. "Roxy" Rothafel opened the Roxy Theater in 1927, it contained over 6,000 seats and was considered the largest theater of its kind in the world. Elaborate live performances were also part of the show: the orchestra pit seated 100 musicians and the ballet corps had up to 100 dancers, including the Gae Foster Roxyettes featured in this card. These high-stepping dancers were the forerunners of the Rockettes, the group "Roxy" took with him when he moved his show to Radio City Music Hall in 1932. The Roxy was razed in 1961.

Police Sergeant Jim Churchill was just a regular working cop at the turn of the century. After 20 years on the force, he was named an acting captain of a precinct in the Bowery in 1901. That position was short-lived as he was soon dismissed for "neglect of duty." Supposedly Churchill didn't work hard enough to close down illegal businesses in his neighborhood, including brothels and bars that served alcohol unlawfully on Sundays. In an ironic twist, after being fired for not closing more bars, Churchill opened his own! The bar and eatery at 1420 Broadway between 39th and 40th Street was a rousing success! He moved into a large space (seen here) at 46th Street and Broadway in 1906 where he could seat more than 350 patrons. After one more move to a brand new three-story terra cotta and brick building at 49th Street, Churchhill's grew to be world famous. Closed with the financial ruination of Prohibition, the final location of Churchill's became a Chinese restaurant before being demolished in 1937.

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.

Lower East Side original character actor Sam "Shalom" Jaffe had an acting career that spanned decades, was studded with awards and was throughly unexpected. A City College college graduate who went on to study engineering at Columbia University, Jaffe was headed for industry when his artistic interests grabbed hold. As a child he appeared in Yiddish theatre, and as an adult, The Forward was gifted with his generous appearances on their behalf, such as at The Forward's WEVD radio station studio seen in the archival image above, where he is seen performing before ABC radio microphones.

The Brill Building, 1935. The Brill Building is a landmark structure that was developed in 1930-31 by Abraham E. Lefcourt. When Lefcourt first leased the land from the Brill Brothers, he planned to erect the world's tallest building on the site, which he would then name after his son, Alan. When Lefcourt failed to meet the terms of their agreement, the Brills foreclosed on the property and changed the name of the near-complete building from the Alan E. Lefcourt Building to the Brill Building. Since its construction, the Brill Building has been synonymous with American music. From the last days of Tin Pan Ally to the emergence of rock and roll, it has been home to a number of remarkable tenants in the music industry. Many big-name performers have leased office space in the building, including Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, and Nat King Cole. At its height in the '60s, more than 160 tenants were involved in the music industry, giving the Brill Building a genre of its own: "The Brill Building Sound."

White Rats Club House, ca 1914. The White Rats was a fraternal organization of Vaudeville actors founded by comedian, actor, and prizefighter George Fuller Golden. The group was based on the entertainment industry fraternity and charity the British Water Rats. In 1899, the Water Rats had helped Golden and his wife pay for their medical expenses in London after Ms. Golden fell ill. They eventually sponsored the couple's return to the United States. Golden was so moved that when he returned to New York, he founded the White Rats. The organization's main aim was not charity, like the Water Rats. It was concerned with a more pressing problem which Vaudeville performers faced in New York. A monopolistic group, the Vaudeville Managers Association (VMA), threated the working rights of performers, keeping their wages low and maintaining an iron grip on their mobility. A year after the White Rats formed they began negotiations with the VMA. They organized a strike in February of 1901, which was quickly called off because performers had to secure contracts through the VMA itself. The White Rats was ultimately disbanded in 1916 after another unsuccessful strike left members blacklisted from productions at any of the 10,000 theaters owned by one of the VMA's leaders. Founder of the White Rats, George Fuller Golden, never worked as an entertainer again.

Barrymore Theater, ca. 1976. Designed by Herbert Krapp in 1928, the theatre, named after famed American actress Ethel Barrymore, was the final Broadway theatre created by Lee and J.J. Shubert. It is also the only surviving theatre created by the original owner/operators of the Shubert family for one of their performers. The two-story terra-cotta grillwork screen is the defining feature of the facade and was modeled after the design of public baths in Rome. The premiere play was The Kingdom of God, with Barrymore in a leading role. She returned to the stage here a number of times through the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. The Barrymore was the debut location of Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire, which premiered in 1947, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando.

B.S Moss Colony, ca. 1932. The theatre at 1681 Broadway opened in 1924 as the B. S. Moss’s Colony Theatre, a vaudeville and movie theatre. Designed by one of the premier theatre architects of the 1920s, Eugene De Rosa, the venue has a large seating capacity (1,765 seats) and deep stage (60 feet). During its two stints as a movie theatre (1924-1930 and 1934-1940), Walt Disney debuted two of his most famous early films there. "Steamboat Willie" opened in 1928 and "Fantasia" in 1939. Given a number names in its early years (Universal's Colony Theatre, B.S. Moss' Broadway Theatre, and Earl Carroll's Broadway Theatre), the theatre became a venue for live Broadway performances starting in 1930 and then again in 1940, when it was christened the unimaginative, Broadway Theatre. Bought in 1939 by the Shuberts, the theatre has been renovated a number of times. The interior and exterior were designed in an Italian Renaissance style. The original facade was resurfaced in a grey polished granite in 1991 when a skyscraper was constructed above the theatre. One of only five Broadway theatres that actually front the street, Broadway, this venue has often been the location that successful shows transfer to near the end of their runs.

Night Scene of R.C.A. Building from 9 Rockefeller Plaza, 1937.

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.

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.

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

Goelet Building ARCHITECT: Victor L. S. Hafner; Edward Hall Faile DATE: 1930-32 STYLE: Art Deco The ten-story Goelet Building at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 49th Street, built in 1930-32, was designed by Victor L. S. Hafner in the Art Deco style but modified to exhibit the supporting skeletal frame devised by the engineering firm of E. H. Faile. The spare horizontality of the lower stories’ glazed curtain walls suggests that, stylistically, this building is a transitional monument between the Art Deco and the International style.

New York Yacht Club ca. 1970 A fanciful version of Beaux Arts architecture, the main facade introduces, between columns, a series of bay windows in the form of sixteenth-century galleon sterns. The pergola which once graced the third floor contributed a further air of lightness and gaiety to this club designed by Warren & Wetmore.

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.

The massive scale of Rockefeller Center is adorned with countless art deco reliefs and sculptures which soften the harden corners and squared-off entryways of the building. This selection gives a brief overview of a few works of art perched on the exterior of this monumental complex.

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).

Public School 67 ARCHITECT: C. B. J. Snyder DATE: 1893-94 STYLE: Romanesque Revival The High School of the Performing Arts, formerly Public School 67, is a handsome Romanesque Revival style building originally built to serve a large residential community on the west side of Manhattan. The school is the first known to have been designed by C.B.J. Snyder, Superintendent of School Buildings to the Board of Education for thirty years.

Harvard Club of New York ARCHITECT: McKim Mead & White; Charles F. McKim DATE: 1893-94 The charm of this building lies in its red brick with limestone trim and in its intimate scale, the delicate refinement of its handsome detail, and the pleasing harmony of its well related architectural components. The front elevation consists of a handsome motif, where the main entrance doorway at street level is surmounted by a central round-headed window, flanked by two pairs of limestone Ionic columns which rest on the second-floor ledge and support the delicately refined third-floor cornice. Directly above this and centered between two windows is the handsomely carved shield of Harvard University.

592 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1975. In 1964 the building as drastically altered. Additonal stories were added and the facade was reclad with a white marble broken up by uniform elongated, tinted oval windows. Architectural firm Hausman & Rosenberg created this sleek modern look. In early 2017 the building's owner and primary tenent, United Overseas Bank, unveiled plans for another reclading of this building, this time (unsurprisingly) in metal and glass.

As the city expanded and the relentless churning of commerce caused New York's population to explode, the city pushed northward. As the city itself moved northward, so did its elite. They settled along the undeveloped edge of the brand new Central Park, building enormous homes and mansions to celebrate their fabulous wealth. This walk takes you through a selection of the Fifth Avenue mansions that would have once dominated the Avenue.

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!

New York Yacht Club Building ARCHITECT: Warren & Wetmore DATE: 1899-1900 STYLE: Neo-Grec The New York Yacht Club Building is a brilliant synthesis of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts’ tenets of character and composition. It was the first commission of the architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore and helped to establish their reputation. The building’s facade was influenced by the Ecole’s highly expressive neo-Grec movement which established the role of character as one of the school’s two primary design tenets. Among the facade’s notable characteristics are its carefully executed asymmetrical composition, its clear expression of the interior plan and its daring use of nautical symbols.

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.

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.

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).

"Atlas" in front of the International Building at Rockefeller Center, ca. 1976. Lee Lawrie's seven-ton bronze statue depicting Atlas, the Titan of Greek mythology, was installed in 1937.

We stand alongside the Black community and all those speaking against systemic racism and violence with justice, hope, and truth. The fight for justice is one that we all need to play a role in, whatever form that might be. In our sphere of work, this means doing our part to help make archives more inclusive and equitable to communities that have historically been left out. As a start, this story is dedicated to honoring Black life and legacy in New York. Read on for stories of triumph in injustice.

592 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1912. Constructed in 1911 to the designs of famed firm Carrère and Hastings, 592 Fifth Avenue was originally a Beaux Arts style structure. It was built as the headquarters of the Black, Starr & Frost Company, a jewelry firm. Though the building survives today, it has a very different look today.

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.

St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, 1923. The western blockfront of Fifth Avenue between 48th and 49th Streets, including private residences and the St. Nicholas Collegiate Reformed Protestant Dutch Church. W. Wheeler Smith’s magnificent Gothic Revival church was built in 1872 for the well-heeled uptown congregation of the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, a denomination that had been active in New York since 1628. Smith’s design featured an out-of-scale 265-foot steeple, visible for miles around. The church attracted prominent members, including the Roosevelt family, who occupied pew no. 39. As Midtown development accelerated and skyscrapers encroached on the church and its valuable real estate, the congregation found themselves under increasing pressure to sell. The final service was held in July, 1949. The church was razed later that year, to be replaced by the Sinclair Oil building at 600 Fifth Avenue.

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.

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.

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. At the Ethel Barrymore Theater, for instance, there were a number of important productions with subtle gay themes: Design for Living (1933) by Noel Coward, with Coward, Alfred Lunt, and Lynn Fontanne; A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), by Tennessee Williams, with Marlon Brando (winner of the Pulitzer Prize and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award); Bell, Book and Candle (1950) by John Van Druten; and Tea and Sympathy (1953) by Robert Anderson. A Raisin in the Sun (1959), by Lorraine Hansberry, was the first work on Broadway by an African-American woman and winner of the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.

Imperial Theatre drawing, date unknown. Designed by Henry J. Krapp and opened in 1923, the Imperial was created specifically to be the Shubert's premier stage for musicals. Its diminutive entrance squished between the Kraw Theatre (now demolished) and the large Music Box Theatre in "Shubert Alley" on 45th Street obscures that the bulk of the theatre itself is actually located on 46th Street. The T-shaped venue was constructed with a modest facade, much like Krapp's other post-WWI theatres for the Shuberts. The interior was more elaborately designed with a flourish of highly ornamental, low relief plasterwork on the walls, typifying Krapp's appreciation of 18th century English Adamesque style. The auditorium includes three large boxes flanking each side of the stage, and is decorated in the neo-classical decoration of the Adamesque style: framed medallions, vases, urns, floral motifs, and chandeliers. The interior of the theatre was designated a landmark in 1986, though its exterior was not protected similarly. The Imperial has hosted a number of Broadway hits in its history included the premiere of 'Annie Get Your Gun," 'Fiddler on the Roof," and "Pippen." After three years at the Broadway Theatre, "Les Misérables" transferred to the Imperial, where it ran for an additional 13 years.

Beloved Academy Award winning German-Jewish actor Luise Rainer, arrived in America in 1935, as fascism continued to seduce Europe. In December 1940, a mere five years after arriving, having already won 2 Oscars two years in a row, and with America still sitting it out, and the war in Europe headlining the news, Rainer guest starred at The Forward's radio station WEVD, "Salute To America" program highlighting American democracy.

Bickford's Restaurant, 1936. Samuel Longley Bickford began a career in restaurants just after the turn of the century, but it was not until 1921 that he established his eponymous restaurant chain. In the decade after opening, the chain grew to more than two dozen locations in New York City and Boston. The lunchrooms were self-serve with a limited menu. The goal was quick turn over, while maintaining high quality and moderate cost. Eventually the chain included more than 85 locations. During the 1930s most of the restaurant locations were designed by architect F. Russell Stuckert (whose father had designed Horn & Hardart restaurants). With 42 New York City locations in 1970 and only two in 1980, Bickford's disappeared from the city entirely in 1982.

Time and Life Building, undated postcard. Opened in the spring of 1937, 9 Rockefeller Plaza (now called 1 Rockefeller Plaza) is a 36-story skyscraper. Completed in 114 work days, a month ahead of schedule, it was the eleventh building in the Rockefeller Center complex. The Art Deco office building was designed by Rockefeller Center's associated architects, led by L. Andrew Reinhard and Wallace Harrison. Early tenants of the building included the Girl Scouts, a number of advertising agencies and publishing houses, and the Museum of Modern Art (who stayed until their new building was completed 1939). The largest tenant, who moved in a year after the building opened, was Time, Inc, the publisher of Time Magazine, Life, and Architectural Forum, among others. This tenant gave the building its name; it was the original Time-Life Building (today the 1957-completed building at 1271 Sixth Avenue is the Time-Life Building).

My Archive Summer 2019 "My parents were divorced, and my dad used to take me to a fancy lunch on Sundays and then we would walk along Fifth Avenue, or sometimes go ice skating or to the zoo. So it's a photo of me (Jennifer Place) taken by my father (Willard Fiske Place)." —Jennifer Place

Seventh Avenue at the north west corner of 47th Street, ca. 1915. This is a quintessential Times Square photograph from the early 20th century. Originally Long Acre Square, the center of the city's horse carriage industry in the late 19th century, the area would have its name changed in 1904. Times Square was christened that after the New York Times newspaper constructed their headquarters on 42nd Street. In the next two decades, the introduction of the subway and the construction of hotels and theatres prompted a massive boom of the area into a busy cultural center. The billboards depicted here advertise nearby attractions including the Shubert and Winter Garden Theatres, as well as take advantage of the well traveled intersection to advertise products such as beer and automobiles.

Winter Garden Theatre, May 3, 1930. The building at 1634 Broadway was constructed in 1896 for William Kissam Vanderbilt's American Horse Exchange. In 1911 the building was leased by the Shubert family for a theatrical venue. They hired architect William Albert Swasey to redesign the theatre. The fourth New York theatre to be named 'Winter Garden," the venue opened March 10, 1911 with a production of the musical revue "La Belle Paree." In 1922 the building was completely remodeled by famed theatre architect Henry J. Krapp.The rebuilt stage is wider than most other Broadway theatres, with a a low proscenium arch. The Shuberts purchased the name and format of the Ziegfeld Follies after the death of Florenz Ziegfeld in 1932. The Winter Garden hosted the Follies in 1934 and 1936. The Winter Garden, though, is best known as the venue that hosted the 18-year run of the musical "Cats." The show premiered on October 7, 1982 and ran 7,485 performances. (Currently it is the fourth longest Broadway run, only exceeded by "Phantom of the Opera," 'Chicago," and "The Lion King.")

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.

Hotel Edison, c. 1930. Completed in 1931, the Hotel Edison was designed by Herbert J. Krapp, a well-known designer of theatres. On the opening day of the hotel, Thomas Edison switched on the electricity. The Art Deco style hotel opened with space enough for 1000 guests and a large ballroom. The ballroom was converted into a theatre in 1950 and hosted theatrical productions until 1991, when it was changed back into a ballroom space. The interiors of the building showcased its Deco style with terraced hallways with gold-trimmed mirrors and a mural lined lobby. The building also was the location of the well-loved Cafe Edison, a Polish style dinner in opulent former formal dinning room of the hotel. Cafe Edison unfortunately closed in 2014.

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.

The Forward’s fav opera and recording star Richard Riven Tucker was much beloved by Metroplitan Opera fans as well as Forward readers, including as a one time deli sandwich! Yes, to celebrate the centennial of his birth, he was given that special NYC honor of being a deli sandwich, and having then NYC Mayor Bloomberg honor his birthday, August 28, as “Richard Tucker Day”.

239 West 45th Street, unknown date. Designed to the plans of architect C. Howard Crane, the intimate Music Box Theater was specifically constructed by composer Irving Berlin and producer Sam H. Harris to house Berlin's famed Music Box Revues. Though one of the smaller Broadway venues, with a seating capacity of only 860, its box seats are notable for being usually large and rounded. After opening in 1921, the theatre hosted a new musical production annually until 1924, when it presented its first play, Cradle Snatchers, starring Humphrey Bogart. Notable playwrights have since found a home at the theatre, including William Inge in the 1950s, who had great success there with Picnic, Bus Stop, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. The theatre was co-owned by Berlin's estate and the Shubert Organization until 2007, when the Shubert Organization assumed its full ownership.

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.

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.

Women's League for Political Education, 1899. Though this photograph does not specifically detail the location of the gathering, it is likely the League's headquarters in the Berkeley Lyceum on 44th Street. The League, originally established as a pro-women's suffrage group, created a meeting place where people of all walks of life could be educated on important issues of the day. They held classes, meetings, and lectures. They also founded a number of affiliate groups including The Civic Forum, an assembly designed to foster higher standards of civic responsibility and international goodwill and the Economic Club of New York, a non-partisan organization that encouraged dialogue on economic, social, and industrial problems. The League, which was opened to both genders around 1905, moved into a larger space in 1921 in the building today known as Town Hall, where they continued this work. A new project started in 1935 was 'America’s Town Meeting of the Air' a public affairs discussion radio show, recorded at Town Hall for more than 20 years. In 1938 the League changed its name to The Town Hall, Inc.

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.

562 Fifth Avenue, ca. 1919. This corner building at no. 562 was an Italianate brownstone constructed sometime prior to 1846 when it came into the possession of the Harper family. Various members of the family, who owned the publishing house Harper & Brothers, lived in the residence over the next six decades. The lovely curved mansard roof was added during renovations in the late 1870s, giving the building a slight French Second Empire look. In 1909 Joseph Harper's widow leased her home to florist Charles Thorley for $27,000 a year (nearly $700,000 in today's market). Thorley, who was 16 years old when he opened his first flower shop downtown in 1874, had become the go-to florist for both New York's high society AND lovesick young men looking to dazzle their sweethearts. After occupying a series of shops, Thorley's business took up residence here at no. 562. And he transformed the building into a 'House of Flowers.' During his first few years here Thorley undertook a series of "greening" renovations: painting the building white with green trim, placing vines and shrubs all along the facade, installing window boxes with overflowing vegetation. This Midtown jungle was a sight to be seen. From this shop Thorley decorated the mansions of NYC's elite for weddings, funerals, and other fancy occasions. His business could not have been more successful; in 1912, during the Easter season only, he sold more than $45,000 in flowers. In 1915 Mrs. Harper passed away and the building—by then largely known as the Thorley Building— was sold. With the new owners raising the already exorbitant rent, Thorley choose to move on in 1920. Charles Thorley died in 1923 but his assistant Rose Fallon took over the business which prospered in various midtown locations (including lastly the Carlyle Hotel) until the mid 1960s. The corner mansion turned flower shop was demolished in the early 1920s, and replaced with a 12-story commercial building. That building, known as the I. Miller Building (for the shoe company that built it), was purchased in 2015 and soon after demolished (along with its neighbors to the north) for an as-yet unknown new development.

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.

Palace Theatre, 1913. The Palace Theatre was a venture originally undertaken by a team of non-New Yorkers. The 1913 building was designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchoff & Rose (their only NYC commission) and was funded by Marvin Beck, a vaudeville entrepreneur from San Fransisco. Beck's plan to open a venue in direct competition with the east coast vaudeville empire of Keith–Albee was derailed when Albee required that Beck transfer three-quarters ownership to the company to be able to host acts from the east coast circuit. Beck agreed and became the Palace Theatre's booking agent. The Palace became the premier vaudeville venue in New York. In 1932 the theatre became a RKO movie house, with a return to live stage shows (in addition to movies) from 1936 to 1957. Citizen Kane had its world premiere at the Palace in 1941. A tall hotel building was constructed over the theatre in the 1980s and today the facade is completely obstructed by advertisements.

Berkeley Lyceum Theatre, drawing from 1935. This now demolished theatre building was constructed in 1887-1888 as a gym for the nearby Berkeley School. The headmaster of the private school also established a men's athletic club in the building to assist in the financial costs of the building's maintenance. In the mid 1890s the building also began hosting theatrical performances. It was the original New York home of Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts. At the same time that the building became home to a proper theatre it also became headquarters for a new progressive organization. The Women's League for Political Education, was established in 1894 by a group of prominent suffragists following the defeat of the women's suffrage amendment to the New York State constitution. The organization's mission was to provided education on social and political issues. Originally a female only organization, the League for Political Education became co-ed sometime in the early years of the 20th century. In 1914 the League purchased a lot on 49th Street for a new building, which would provide a larger space for classes and lectures. The new building, originally called the Societies' Building (now known as Town Hall), opened in 1921 and was designed with the democratic principles of the League in mind. No box seats were included in the design and every effort was made to allow an unobstructed view for every seat in the house. The Berkeley Lyceum was torn down in 1916.

Goelet Building, 1935. Considered a transitional moment between the Art Deco and International styles, the 10-story Goelet Building was completed in 1932. Originally created in the Deco style by architect Victor L. S. Hafner, the engineering firm of E. H. Faile modified the design of the upper floors to visibly incorporate the supporting skeletal framing in the facade.The glazed deep green marble curtain wall of lower floors render in a simple horizontal arrangement hearken to the modern International style. The building replaced the 1882 mansion belonging to the Goelet family. Designed to compliment the nearby buildings of Rockefeller Center, this structure had ground floor retail and office spaces on the upper floors. Since 1964 the building has been called the Swiss Center, for the group of Swiss business, working in commercial, cultural, travel and financial activities, who began leasing it then.

My Archive Spring 2019 "Rockefeller Center. The subject in the excellent sweatshirt outfit is yours truly, supported by my mom." —Isabel Sen

605 Fifth Avenue, 1925. Designed in 1924 by architect William Van Alen (of later Chrysler Building fame), this midblock building was forecast by the New York Times to be “one of the finest buildings along Fifth Avenue in this section.” The asymmetrical structure had six full stories of curved windows on one corner. The architect took advantage of the setback of the neighboring church to showcase this innovative feature. Completed in 1925 for the Child's restaurant chain, the resulting edifice of gleaming white limestone and expansive plate glass was called a veritable jewel-box” by a contemporary design magazine. It was said to have been the first building in the U.S. without corner columns. The unique vantage point by which passersby could look right through the curved corner of the building was lost in 1952 with the demolition of the church and the construction of 600 Fifth Avenue, a 26-story office building. Since 1997 the building has been home to TGI Friday's. For many years the facade was painted a bright blue with contrasting red and white awnings. In the last few years, the facade has gone back to white, but a four-story advertisement covers the upper floors (and curved windows).

25 West 45th Street, 1913. This limestone office building was designed by the firm of Wallis & Goodwillie and completed in 1913. In early 1925 this building became the home of the brand new magazine called the New Yorker. The publication of "gaiety, wit, satire, fiction, social commentary, and criticism" remained here for the next decade before moving to 43rd Street in 1935.

Rivoli Theatre, 1918. Designed by renowned theatre architect, Thomas Lamb, the Greek Revival theatre opened to the public on December 28, 1917. The very first movie screened was the Douglas Fairbanks film "A Modern Musketeer," which was presented with a "live" program featuring musical soloists, the organ, and house orchestra. The Rivoli was built as the sister theatre to the Rialto (at Broadway and 42nd Street). The auditorium could accommodate 2270 patrons and was noted for its acoustics. The house orchestra was 50 pieces and conducted by Dr. Hugo Riesenfeld. The design of the stage was specific for the movie screen (in the large center proscenium) and two side for the orchestra and soloists. A stage for live theatrical productions was only constructed in 1926. Comic book writer, editor, publisher Stan Lee was an usher at the Rivoli in his youth. In the 1950s the theatre was converted to a 70mm Todd-AO setup with a deeply curved screen. The theatre was demolished in 1987.

In the 1940 movie "Young People," Shirley Temple sang and danced to the lighthearted ditty, "Fifth Avenue." Let's use the lyrics to guide us through the history of the grandest thoroughfare in New York City.

Silent Parade, July 28, 1917. Following a series of lynchings in Waco, Texas and Memphis, Tennessee in late 1916 and early 1917 and the vicious mob violence that killed 39 black men during a riot in St. Louis (though the actual number of dead and injured was likely much higher), the NAACP organized a demonstration. Called the 'Silent Parade,' more than 10,000 African-Americans marched slowly and silently down Fifth Avenue on Saturday, July 28, 1917. The women and children wore white. The NAACP sends out a notice for the event that included phases they hoped attendees might carry as signs. These included... Make America Safe for Democracy. The first blood for American Independence was shed by a Negro—Crispus Attucks. America has lynched without trial 2,876 Negroes in 31 years and not a murderer has suffered. Racial prejudice is the offspring of ignorance and the mother of lynching. The great contradiction— love of God and hatred of man.

Music Box Theater Interior ARCHITECT: C. Howard Crane & E. George Kiehler DATE: 1920 STYLE: Palladian-inspired The interior of the Music Box Theater is a fine example of Palladian-inspired design. Among its significant architectural features is a flat proscenium arch flanked by Palladian arched boxes echoing the design of its exterior, handsome murals, and Adamesque-style plasterwork.

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.

Fire Engine Company No. 54 ARCHITECT: Napoleon LeBrun & Son DATE: 1888 STYLE: Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival Fire Engine Company No. 54 is a late but excellent example of LeBrun & Son’s numerous mid-block firehouses, reflecting the firm’s attention to materials, stylish details, plan and setting. Napoleon LeBrun, who had established his firm in New York City in 1864, achieved renown as a designer of office buildings, including those for Home Life Insurance Company and the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. The building combines elements of Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles, and adopts the designs of numerous mid-block firehouses as an economical and rapid means of creating public buildings that clearly identified their civic function.

Cort Theatre ARCHITECT: Thomas W. Lamb DATE: 1912-13 STYLE: French The Cort Theater represents a special aspect of the nation’s theatrical history. Beyond its historical importance, it is an exceptionally handsome theater, with a facade modeled on the Petit Trianon in Versailles. Its triple-story, marble-faced Corinthian colonnade is very unusual among the Broadway theaters. Thomas Lamb was New York’s most prolific theater architect, but the Cort is one of only two legitimate stage theaters of his design surviving in the Broadway area. The design of this theatre is based on the French architecture at Versailles, and the interior’s significant architectural features include plaster cameos, a mural, and a unique proscenium arch of plasterwork and art glass. For over three-quarters of a century, the Cort Theater has served as home to countless numbers of the plays through which the Broadway theater has come to personify American theater.

Adelphi Theatre, March 30, 1937. Opened as the Craig Theatre opened on December 24, 1928, the venue on 54th underwent more name changes that most theatres (which is saying something since most changed names at least twice in their histories). The venue's longest running name was the Adelphi Theatre (1934–1940 and 1944–1958). In 1947 the theatre premiered the American opera "Street Scene" with music by Kurt Weill ("The Threepenny Opera") and book by Langston Hughes. In the 1950s the venue was used as a TV studio, episodes of the 'Honeymooners' were filmed there. It returned to live theatre in 1957, changed names a few more times and closed, finally, in the late 1960s. The building was razed in 1970 and eventually replaced by the office tower at 1325 Avenue of the Americas.

Globe Theatre, ca. 1910. Opened in 1910 and named for the Shakespeare's famous theatre in London, the Globe originally produced dramas. The Italian Renaissance style building was designed by Carrère and Hastings, a firm best known for their New York libraries. The theatre had seating for more than 1100 viewers and two balconies. An innovative feature of the theatre was a retractable roof section, which was meant to open the theatre to the starlight and also provide relief during hot weather. No evidence has been found that the roof ever functioned. It was likely difficult to operate and would have opened the theatre to soot and litter. But, a feature that did function for theatre-goers was individual vents under the seats for heating and cooling. In 1932, owing to the financial crisis and the dwindling revenue of Broadway theatres, the building was converted to a movie house. This function only lasted for about 25 years. In 1958 the building was gut renovated and reopened as the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. In 1959 the Sound of Music opened to mixed reviews. Today the theatre is part of the Nederlander Organization.

Father Francis Patrick Duffy statue, 1937. Father Duffy was a military chaplain and priest who served the local Times Square community as pastor of the Holy Cross Church, located at 237 West 42nd Street. A French Canadian, Duffy arrived in New York in 1893 to be a teacher. In the 1890s he was ordained a priest and spent the next 20 years serving as a seminary instructor in Yonkers and a military chaplain during the Spanish-American and First World Wars. He returned to the city after WWI and became pastor to the Time Square church. He served the community until his death in 1932. In 1940 he was a character in the movie "The Fighting 69th," based on the story of the New York Infantry Regiment during the First World War. The sculpture, which sits in Father Duffy Square, right in the middle of Times Square, was created by Charles Keck, who also created sculptures for the Brooklyn War Memorial. The more than life size figure stands in front of a Celtic cross and was unveiled on May 7, 1937. Photographer Berenice Abbott happened to capture the statue just prior to its debut.

Imperial Theatre ARCHITECT: Herbert J. Krapp DATE: 1923 STYLE: Adamesque The Imperial Theater Interior is an excellent example of the elegant Adamesque style. Its significant architectural features include floral plasterwork bands, flat pilasters with stylized capitals, and Adarnesque friezes including figures holding tragic and comic theatrical masks at the boxes.

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.