Martin Beck Theater ARCHITECT: C. Albert Lansburgh DATE: 1923-24 STYLE: Byzantine The Martin Beck Theater survives today as one of the historic theaters that symbolize American theater for both New York and the nation. It was designed for Martin Beck, one of America’s great vaudeville producers, by G. Albert Lansburgh, a prominent theater designer who considered it his finest work. Beck and Lansburgh created an unusual and exotic design based on Byzantine motifs, making the Beck architecturally unique among the Broadway theaters. Among its outstanding characteristics is its double-height stone-faced arcade with elaborately carved capitals. For over half a century the Martin Beck has served as home to countless numbers of the plays through which the Broadway theater has come to personify American theater. Its presence helps visually to define the Broadway theater district, the largest and most famous concentration of legitimate stage theaters in the world.

Martin Beck Theater Interior ARCHITECT: C. Albert Lansburgh DATE: 1923-24 STYLE: Byzantine The exotic design of Martin Beck Theater, or Al Hirschfeld Theater, is based on Byzantine motifs, making the Beck architecturally unique among the Broadway theaters. Among the most notable design features of the interior are a triple-domed lobby with murals, and an auditorium with spiral-ribbed proscenium arch and fan vaults. Its exotic painted domed ceiling is the work of Albert Herter, a noted American muralist.

Martin Beck (now Al Hirshfield) Theatre, November 1935. Seen from down the block, the Martin Beck Theatre opened in 1924 and was designed by G. Albert Lansburgh (a San Fransisco-based theatre architect). Constructed for vaudeville promotor Beck, it had the distinction of being the only theatre in New York that was owned outright without a mortgage (and was the only Broadway theatre built west of Eighth Avenue). The Moorish-inspired theatre was particularly lavish in its design and both its exterior and a section of the interior were designated NYC landmarks in 1987. In 2003 the theatre was renamed for famed American caricaturist Al Hirschfeld.