Wikipedia

Olympia Theatre (New York City)

(Redirected from Criterion Center)
Not to be confused with Olympic Theatre (New York City).

The Olympia Theatre (1514–16 Broadway at 44th Street), also known as Hammerstein's Olympia and later the Lyric Theatre and the New York Theatre, was a theater complex built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I at Longacre Square (later Times Square) in Manhattan, New York City, opening in 1895.

Olympia Theatre
Hammerstein's Olympia, New York Theatre, Loew's New York, Criterion Theatre, Vitagraph Theatre
Hammerstein's Olympia
Map
Address1514–16 Broadway
New York City
United States
TypeBroadway
Current userestaurant
Construction
Opened1895
Rebuilt1935
Years active1890–1935
ArchitectJ. B. McElfatrick & Son

It consisted of a theater, a music hall, a concert hall, and a roof garden. Later, sections of the structure were substantially remodeled and used for both live theatre and for motion pictures. As a cinema, it was also known at various times as the Vitagraph Theatre and the Criterion Theatre.

History

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According to The New York Times, the Olympia was a "massive gray stone building", and extended 203 feet (62 m) on Longacre Square, 104 feet (32 m) on 45th Street, and 101 feet (31 m) on 44th Street. It was made from Indiana limestone, featured an imposing façade, and followed French Renaissance designs. It was designed by J. B. McElfatrick & Son.[1][2] The building opened on November 25, 1895 with the Broadway debut of Excelsior, Jr., with over 30 performers from Europe appearing.[3] It was the second theater to open in what is now known as the Theater District. (The first was the Empire Theatre, on the southeast corner of 40th Street and Broadway.) The complex consisted of the Music Hall, a large variety theater, the Lyric, a legitimate theater, the Concert Hall, for smaller music performances, and a rooftop garden theater.

In 1898, Hammerstein was forced to sell the complex to settle debts from its construction.[4] The venues were sold separately, with the Music Hall becoming the New York Theatre, which became part of the Loew's movie theater chain in 1915.[5] The Lyric was renamed the Criterion Theatre. From 1914 to 1916 it operated as the Vitagraph Theatre, leased by the Vitagraph Company for prestige motion pictures including The Battle Cry of Peace, before returning to the Criterion name. It permanently switched to cinema use in 1920.[6][7][8] The rooftop garden theater was leased by Florenz Ziegfeld and hosted the first five editions of the Ziegfeld Follies under the name Jardin de Paris, named for the location in Paris of the Moulin Rouge. It, too, became a movie theater.[9] The complex was demolished in 1935.

Subsequent site use

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After the old venues were demolished, architects Thomas W. Lamb and Eugene De Rosa designed a new building on the site which included a new Criterion Theatre cinema, the International Casino nightclub, and retail space.[1] The nightclub closed after only two years, and the space became a Bond Clothing Stores location until 1977. It was then reconverted to a discotheque, Bond International Casino, which closed in 1986. The cinema was multiplexed in 1980.

In 1988, a portion of the former nightclub space was converted was to a pair of live theater spaces called the Criterion Center.[10] In 1991, the spaces were leased to Roundabout Theatre Company, a prominent non-profit theater company, which used the larger Stage Right space as a small Tony Award-eligible theater while the smaller second theater became the first version of the Laura Pels Theatre. Notable productions during Roundabout's tenure at the Criterion include the 1993 revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie (featuring Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson in their Broadway debuts),[11] the 1995 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company,[12] and the 1997 revival of 1776.[13] The company left the space in 1999 when their lease was canceled.

 
The Toys "R" Us Times Square store in 2012.

In the early 2000s, Toys "R" Us built a flagship store in the building, leading to the closure of both the cinema and the live theater venues.[14] The multilevel store featured a 60-foot in-store Ferris Wheel and an animatronic T-rex among its attractions. Upon expiration of its lease, Toys "R" Us closed on December 30, 2015.[15] The decision was attributed primarily to a rise in property values in Times Square that would increase its rent from $12 million to upwards of $42 million a year. In June 2015, Gap Inc. signed a lease for the property and expected to open stores for its Gap and Old Navy brands in 2017. The two stores account for 62,000 square feet of the 100,000-square-foot store.[16] In July 2016, during the construction of the Gap and Old Navy flagship store, remnants of the original Olympia were found under the floors.[17][18][19] The building, known officially as the Bow Tie Building, remains owned by Bow Tie Partners, the real estate holding company tied to Bow Tie Cinemas, the chain operated by the Moss family.[20]

Partial list of notable productions

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Original venues

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Criterion Center Stage Right

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References

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  1. ^ a b Morrison, William (1999). Broadway Theatres: History and Architecture (trade paperback). Dover Books on Architecture. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. pp. 24–26. ISBN 0-486-40244-4.
  2. ^ "Olympia Ready to Open". The New York Times. November 24, 1895.
  3. ^ "Police Call in Olympia". The New York Times. November 26, 1895.
  4. ^ Shepard, Richard F. (November 5, 1995). "LOOKING BACK;Hammerstein's Gamble". The New York Times.
  5. ^ "Loew's New York". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  6. ^ "Criterion Theatre". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  7. ^ "Criterion Theatre". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  8. ^ "War Picture at the Vitagraph". New-York Tribune. September 5, 1915. p. 5. Retrieved July 24, 2020.
  9. ^ "Jardin de Paris". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved November 27, 2020.
  10. ^ "Criterion Center Stage Right – New York, NY". IBDB.
  11. ^ a b "Anna Christie – Broadway Play – 1993 Revival". IBDB.
  12. ^ a b "Company – Broadway Musical – 1995 Revival". IBDB.
  13. ^ a b "1776". Playbill Vault. Retrieved July 1, 2024.
  14. ^ Bagli, Charles V. (August 2, 2000). "Toys 'R' Us to Build the Biggest Store in Times Sq". The New York Times.
  15. ^ Harris, Elizabeth A. (December 30, 2015). "Several Days After Christmas, Toys 'R' Us Closes in Times Square". The New York Times.
  16. ^ Rupp, Lindsey (June 26, 2015). "Gap, Old Navy Brands to Take Over Toys 'R' Us Times Square Store –". Bloomberg Business. Archived from the original on July 1, 2015.
  17. ^ Viagas, Robert (July 27, 2016). "Times Square Construction Workers Unearth Ruins of Old Theatre". Playbill.
  18. ^ Rosenberg, Zoe (August 5, 2016). "See the remnants of the historic theater unearthed at Times Square". Curbed NY.
  19. ^ Cote, David (August 5, 2016). "Ruins of an 1895 Broadway theatre found under Toys R Us in Times Square". Time Out New York.
  20. ^ Bow Tie Partners. "The Bow Tie Building". Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  21. ^ "At the Theatres; Acting of John Hare and Irene Vanbrugh in The Gay Lord Quex", The New York Times, November 18, 1900, p. 18 (subscription required)
  22. ^ Mantle, Burns; Sherwood, Garrison P.; Chapman, John Arthur (1944). "A Million Dollars". The Best Plays of 1899–1909. Dodd, Mead & Co. p. 372.
  23. ^ Ken Bloom (2013). Routledge Guide to Broadway. Taylor & Francis. p. 197. ISBN 9781135871178.
  24. ^ Dietz, Dan (2019). "The King's Carnival". The Complete Book of 1920s Broadway Musicals. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 9781442245280.
  25. ^ Legrand, Jacques (1987). Chronicle of the 20th Century. Ecam Publication. p. 21. ISBN 0-942191-01-3.
  26. ^ Riis, Thomas L., Just Before Jazz: Black Musical Theater in New York, 1890-1915 (London: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1989), p. 91
  27. ^ Bordman & Norton, p. 250
  28. ^ Ben Brantley (March 12, 1999). "THEATER REVIEW; A Game Of Feudal Feuding". The New York Times. p. E1.
  29. ^ Vincent Canby (April 26, 1995). "THEATER REVIEW; Turgenev's Inquiry Into Calamitous Love". The New York Times.
  30. ^ Ben Brantley (March 12, 1999). "THEATER REVIEW; A Game Of Feudal Feuding". The New York Times. p. E1.

Bibliography

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40°45′27″N 73°59′09″W / 40.75738°N 73.98570°W / 40.75738; -73.98570

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