The Fourteenth Street Theatre was a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

theatre located at 107

West 14th Street 14th Street is a major crosstown street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, traveling between Eleventh Avenue on Manhattan's West Side and Avenue C on Manhattan's East Side. It forms a boundary between several neighborhoods and is so ...

just west of

Sixth Avenue Sixth Avenue – also known as Avenue of the Americas, although this name is seldom used by New Yorkers, p.24 – is a major thoroughfare in New York City's borough of Manhattan, on which traffic runs northbound, or "uptown". It is commercial ...

.Berg, J.C. (9 January 2011)
The Fourteenth Street Theater
, ''nycvintageimages.com''

History

It was designed by

Alexander Saeltzer Alexander Saeltzer (31 July 1814 Eisenach, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Germany — 23 September 1883 New York City) was a German-American architect active in New York City in the 1850s and 1860s. His work includes the Anshe Chesed Synagogue (now the A ...

and opened in 1866 as the Theatre Francais, as a home for

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

dramas and opera.Fisher, Hames and Londré, Felicia Hardison
"Modernism"
in ''The A to Z of American Theater'' Rowman & Littlefield, 2009. . pp.180-81 The theatre was renamed the Lyceum in 1871. In 1879, it was taken over by producer J.H. Haverly who renamed it Haverly's 14th Street Theatre. By the mid-1880s, it had become simply the Fourteenth Street Theatre.Steinberg, Mollie B
The history of the Fourteenth street theatre
(1931) By the mid-1910s it was being used as a movie theatre, until actress

Eva Le Gallienne Eva Le Gallienne (January 11, 1899 – June 3, 1991) was a British-born American stage actress, producer, director, translator, and author. A Broadway star by age 21, Le Gallienne gave up her Broadway appearances to devote herself to founding t ...

made it the home of her stage company and renamed it to Civic Repertory Theatre in 1926. She mounted 34 successful productions at the theatre,Brockett, Oscar G. ''History of the Theatre'', Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974. p. 553. but the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

ended that venture in 1934.(30 May 1942)
Producer of Play Found Dead in Hotel
, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' The building was demolished in 1938.Cooper, Lee E. (1 April 1938)
Old Fourteenth St. Theatre to Pass Into Hands of Wreckers on Monday
, ''

''(3 September 2011)
The Lost 1866 Theatre Francais -- 107 West 14th Street
, ''Daytonian In Manhattan''

Selected productions

14th Street Theatre

*'' Evangeline!'' (1885–1886) (252 perf.) *'' The Still Alarm'' (1887) *''The Old Homestead'' (1887, by

Denman Thompson Henry Denman Thompson (October 15, 1833 – April 14, 1911) was an American playwright and theatre actor. Biography Rufus Thompson, a carpenter, and his wife Anne Hathaway Baxter moved in 1831 from West Swanzey, New Hampshire to Girard, Pe ...

) (155 perf.) *''A Romance of Athlone'' (1889, 1890, by

Chauncey Olcott Chauncey Olcott, born John Chancellor Olcott and often spelled Chauncey Alcott, (July 21, 1858 – March 18, 1932) was an American stage actor, songwriter and singer of Irish descent. Biography He was born in Buffalo, New York. His mother, Mar ...

) *''

Blue Jeans Jeans are a type of pants or trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with copper-riveted pockets which were invented by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and paten ...

'' (1890) *''

Mavourneen ''Mavourneen'' is a 1915 historical comedy play by the British writer Louis N. Parker. It portrays a dalliance between Charles II and an young Irish woman in Restoration England. It ran for 98 performances at His Majesty's Theatre in London' ...

'' (1891)

Civic Repertory Theatre

*''

Alice in Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (commonly ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English novel by Lewis Carroll. It details the story of a young girl named Alice who falls through a rabbit hole into a fantasy world of anthropomorphic creatur ...

'' (1932–33, adapted by

) (127 perf.) *''Peace on Earth'' (1933–34, by George Sklar and

Albert Maltz Albert Maltz (; October 28, 1908 – April 26, 1985) was an American playwright, fiction writer and screenwriter. He was one of the Hollywood Ten who were jailed in 1950 for their 1947 refusal to testify before the US Congress about their invo ...

) (126 perf.) *''Let Freedom Ring'' (1935–36) (108 perf.)

References

Notes Bibliography *Brockett, Oscar G. ''History of the Theatre'', Second Edition. Boston, Allyn and Bacon, 1974.

External links

Listing
on the

Internet Broadway Database The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade assoc ...

* Civic Repertory Theatre Records. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{Authority control Former theatres in Manhattan Demolished theatres in New York City Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan 14th Street (Manhattan) Buildings and structures demolished in 1938