Times Square Theater

The Times Square Theater is a former Broadway and movie theater at 217 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square. Built in 1920, it was designed by Eugene De Rosa and developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. The building, which is no longer an active theater, is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street.

The Times Square Theater was designed simultaneously with the now-demolished Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west. The theaters shared a symmetrical facade on 42nd Street, which is made of limestone and contains a central colonnade. The Times Square Theater took up most of the facade, though the western section was occupied by the Apollo Theatre's entrance. Inside, the Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped auditorium that could seat 1,155 people. The auditorium was designed in a silver, green, and black color scheme and had a shallow balcony, box seats, and murals. As part of a renovation proposed in 2018, the theater building will be substantially expanded with a glass annex, the original facade will be raised, and some of the interior elements will be preserved.

The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Edgar Selwyn's play ''The Mirage''. The theater mostly hosted legitimate shows in its first decade, but it briefly screened films in 1926 and 1928. Notable shows included '' The Front Page'' (1928), '' Strike Up the Band'' (1930), and ''Private Lives'' (1931). The theater staged its last show in 1933, and the theater became a cinema the next year. The Brandt family operated the Times Square for the next five decades, showing westerns and action films. There were several proposals to redevelop theaters along 42nd Street in the 1980s. New 42nd Street took over the Times Square and several neighboring theaters in 1990, but the theater building was difficult to lease out because of its lack of a rear entrance. Among the unsuccessful bids were those by MTV, Marvel Mania, Livent, Ecko Unltd., and a 4D theater company. Stillman Development International leased the building in 2017 and hired Beyer Blinder Belle to renovate it.

Site

The Times Square Theater is at 215 West 42nd Street, on the northern sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building occupies a nearly square land lot covering , with a frontage of on 42nd Street and a depth of . The theater is surrounded to the east and north by the Lyric Theatre. It also shares the block with the Hotel Carter building and the American Airlines Theatre to the west, as well as the New Victory Theater and 3 Times Square to the east. Other nearby buildings include 255 West 43rd Street, the St. James Theatre, the Hayes Theater to the northwest; 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north; 5 Times Square and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the southeast; and the Candler Building to the south.

The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven legitimate theaters were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris, Liberty, Eltinge, and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into the current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now American Airlines), and Victoria theaters, occupied the north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them were showing pornography by the 1970s.

Design

The Times Square Theater, along with the Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west, was developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn in 1920. Both theaters were built simultaneously and designed by Eugene De Rosa. Architectural Plastering Co. performed the theater's exterior sgraffito work, while L. S. Fischl's Sons was the interior decorator.

Facade

The theater's original facade, shared with the former Apollo Theatre, is made of limestone and is symmetrical. The layout is similar to that of the still-extant Music Box Theatre. The westernmost section served as an entrance to the Apollo Theatre, whose auditorium was originally on 43rd Street. There was a marquee overhanging the entrance to the Apollo. Above that was a vertical sign advertising the two theaters. The Apollo's name was placed on the western face of the sign, while the Times Square's name was placed on the eastern face. In addition, there were entrances to the Times Square Theater to the east, separated by rusticated limestone piers. The two theaters' entrances were otherwise identical in design.

At the second floor is a colonnade of six columns between a pair of outer bays. ''The New York Times'' described the columns as being in the Doric order. There were originally seven wrought-iron screens, one between each set of columns. The auditorium facade is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating a gallery. The outermost bays in the second floor contained sash window panes, flanked by pilasters that support a round arch. The pilasters in the corners of the arches were carved. A cornice ran above the facade. Unlike the four neighboring theaters, the Times Square Theater did not have any access from 43rd Street. Instead, its auditorium and stage house were both on 42nd Street. This allowed the auditorium to be positioned parallel to the street, facing eastward.

, Beyer Blinder Belle is planning to substantially reconfigure the Times Square Theater building. The proposed renovation includes increasing the building's height to six stories, with its roof high. Four stories will be built above the existing building. The existing facade will be raised by to accommodate higher ceilings on the ground floor. The second story will have a glass enclosure in front of the colonnade, allowing passersby to view the former theater's interior. The enclosure, measuring tall, will partially cantilever above the sidewalk on 42nd Street. LED signs are also planned to be installed on the building's exterior. An open-air restaurant will also be placed on the roof.

Interior

Original theater

The Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped layout. A contemporary account said the theater could accommodate 1,127 people; meanwhile, The Broadway League and ''Playbill'' both cite a capacity of 1,055, and theater historian Mary C. Henderson gives a figure of 1,035. The interior was originally decorated in the Empire style with some Adam style ornamentation. The original color scheme was silver and green against a black background. In later years, the green decorations faded to gray.

The theater had two levels of seating: a ground-floor orchestra level, as well as a balcony with a slightly higher seating capacity. The first four rows of the orchestra were designed with armchairs instead of typical theater seats. At balcony level was a crossover aisle with several entrances, reducing the distance that patrons had to climb compared to in older theaters. Near the front of the auditorium, on either side of the balcony level, was a wall section with two box seats. Each wall section had black velvet curtains and was topped by a plaster half-dome. The theater contained an "air cushion" facing 42nd Street to the south, which dampened noise from outdoors. On either side of the auditorium were emergency exits leading to passageways; the ''New-York Tribune'' said these were capable of emptying the theater "in a matter of seconds". The ceiling had a dome measuring wide.

A black velvet curtain separated the audience from the stage, which was wide. A grand staircase connected the orchestra and balcony levels. There was also a women's lounge and smoking room on balcony level, as well as a men's lounge in the basement. The men's lounge was decorated in the Tudor style and contained wooden paneling. To the west of the Times Square's auditorium was the Apollo's entrance, which consisted of a corridor with paneled walls and several types of marble. The old Apollo entrance from 42nd Street, with bas-relief sculptures and black-and-white marble decorations, was retained when the current Lyric Theatre was built in 1998. To the east of the auditorium is the lobby from the original Lyric Theatre.

Proposed conversion

The building is proposed to be converted into over of mixed-use space. Most of the building, about , will be used as storefronts. The third and fourth stories will each have double-height ceilings and will include many of the historical features relocated from the auditorium. Both stories will have outdoor terraces. A spiral staircase will connect the second through fourth floors, and the dome will be reinstalled above the staircase.

Use as theater

Development

Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. The Selwyn brothers, developed several Broadway theaters on 42nd Street. Before the Times Square Theater was developed, the brothers operated the Harris and Selwyn (now American Airlines) theaters. The Selwyn Theatre had opened on an adjacent site in 1918. Even before that theater was completed, the Selwyn brothers had asked their partner Crosby Gaige to search for sites where they could build additional theaters. The brothers bought two sites just east of the Selwyn Theatre: a plot on 42nd Street, which contained George Sturges's unprofitable Bryant Theatre, as well as a plot on 43rd Street, which was vacant.

As construction proceeded on the Selwyn Theatre in September 1917, the Selwyn brothers announced two additional theaters . Originally, the two theaters were to be named after actress Margaret Illington and producer Margaret Mayo. The following February, the Shubert family acquired a partial interest in the three theaters that the Selwyns were constructing. By this time, the planned Illington Theatre was to be known as the Times Square Theater. The Selwyn brothers leased the eastern site from Sperry and Hutchinson Co. in July 1918, after the plot had already been excavated. In May 1919, the New York City Department of Buildings approved the Selwyn brothers' plans for a 1,100-seat theater on 42nd Street and a 1,200-seat theater on 43rd Street. The O'Day Construction Company was hired to erect both theaters. The Selwyn brothers intended to use the two theaters exclusively for their own productions.

Legitimate use

Selwyn years

The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Florence Reed starring in Edgar Selwyn's play ''The Mirage''. The production was a relative hit,; lasting for 192 performances through March 1921. During that play's run, G.K. Chesterton spoke on the topic "Shall We Abolish the Inevitable?" at the theater. This was followed by the musical comedy ''The Right Girl'',
as well as the mhort-lived usical revue ''The Broadway Whirl''.
The plays ''The Demi-Virgin'', ''Honors Are Even'', and ''Love Dreams'' had short runs at the Times Square in late 1921. That November, the Clemence Dane play '' A Bill of Divorcement'' moved from George M. Cohan's Theatre to the Times Square; it was one of the first hits that featured actress Katharine Cornell. The theater also hosted recitals by actress Ruth Draper, who continued her performances there for several years. In 1922, the Times Square hosted plays such as ''The Charlatan'', as well as ''The Exciters'' with Tallulah Bankhead.

''The Fool'', by Channing Pollock, opened in October 1922 and ran for over 200 performances through the next year.
As an experiment, the Selwyn brothers brought over several visiting companies in mid-1923 to perform ''The Fool'' in place of the usual actors. Each company performed for three days before being performing the production at other theaters. The play ''Helen of Troy, New York'', transferred from the Selwyn Theatre in October 1923; this was followed in December by ''Pelléas and Mélisande'' with Jane Cowl, which flopped after 13 performances. During early 1924, André Charlot presented his eponymous musical revue, featuring Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie, and Jack Buchanan. Charlot's revue transferred to the Selwyn Theatre in April 1924, swapping houses with the musical ''Battling Buttler''. The theater also hosted a dance recital by Albertina Rasch in May 1924, though the Sabbath Committee ruled that the recital could not be staged on Sundays. That September, the theater hosted Jerome Kern and Howard Dietz's musical ''Dear Sir'', featuring Oscar Shaw and Walter Catlett. It was followed in November by Clifford Grey, Clare Kummer, and Sigmund Romberg's musical ''Annie Dear,'' which featured Billie Burke.

Decline

The Selwyn brothers dissolved their firm in 1925. The same year, the theater hosted the play ''Mismates'', the namesake of the film ''Mismates