{"id":15632,"date":"2022-06-15T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-06-15T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/content-manager\/?p=15632"},"modified":"2022-06-15T15:01:29","modified_gmt":"2022-06-15T19:01:29","slug":"times-square-theatre-repurposing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.renthop.com\/blog\/times-square-theatre-repurposing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Times Square: Repurposing A Broadway Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

New York City<\/a> is the hub of the American theatre scene. In 2018 the World Cities Culture Report<\/a> counted 637 operational theatres within the city\u2019s limits and estimated that ticket sales for New York City\u2019s theatrical events total $1.7 billion yearly. Still, even the modern popularity of the Great White Way pales compared to its heyday during the Roaring 20s.\u00a0 When the film industry was in its infancy, live theatre was the city\u2019s dominant form of entertainment. Nineteen of the forty-one active Broadway theatres<\/a> opened between 1920 and 1930. Developers constructed many others during this period only to immediately fall prey to the financial devastation of the 1929 stock market crash. Most of these playhouses no longer exist, but there are several notable exceptions, including the Times Square Theatre.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

History of the Times Square Theatre<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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By Wurts Brothers, photographers. Eugene De Rosa, architect. – This image is available from the New York Public Library’s Digital Library under the digital ID 1558366: digitalgallery.nypl.org<\/a>, Public Domain<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Eugene de Rosa designed The Times Square Theatre, which opened in 1920<\/a> with a production of Edgar Selwyn\u2019s drama The Mirage.<\/em> It’s at 217 West 42nd Street, right next to where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child <\/em>at the New Victory Theatre. The theatre hosted several other notable performances. Some patrons might remember the American premiere of No\u00ebl Coward\u2019s Private Lives.<\/em> However, Depression-era financial woes drove its management bankrupt in 1933. The new owners converted the theatre to a movie theater,<\/a> featuring lurid, raunchy grindhouse films. It became a popular attraction for its time.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

The slowly-decaying Times Square Theatre remained a cinema until the early 1990s. Over the years, its film programming gradually descended toward spatter films and pornography. Still, the Times Square survived the demolition of several other nearby venues. However, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission<\/a> did not select it for protection because it no longer conducted live performances.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In 1992, the Times Square Theatre was drawn into the jurisdiction of New 42nd Street<\/a>, a city-backed organization intended to refurbish the deteriorating Broadway theatres of 42nd Street and make the area more appealing to tourists.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Charting a New Course<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

New 42nd Street has successfully refurbished<\/a> six of the seven Broadway theatres left under its jurisdiction, including the New Victory Theatre and the American Airlines Theatre. The Times Square Theatre is the last to be repaired, in part because its unique layout poses a challenge for renovators.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Some preservationists felt that the theatre should be restored to its former glory and once again used for theatrical performance. However, safety standards and accessibility requirements<\/a> have changed significantly since shows were last staged in the Times Square ninety years ago\u2014for example, all of the theatre\u2019s exits are directly on 42nd Street, which would make audience egress difficult in the case of fire<\/a> and would tremendously complicate load-ins<\/a> for new shows.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Instead, it was decided that the Times Square Theatre would be repurposed entirely.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Over the decades, New 42nd Street fielded various proposals from new business ventures\u2014including, on three separate occasions<\/a>, plans for a professional wrestling-themed restaurant, a gladiator-themed restaurant, and a Marvel Comics-themed restaurant. Designer Marc Ecko and the developers behind the short-lived Broadway 4D fad<\/a> both held the lease for the Times Square Theatre at various points but later abandoned their planned projects for the space.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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