Loew's New York Theatre and Roof

1514-1516 Broadway,
New York, NY 10036

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Showing 26 - 32 of 32 comments

jflundy
jflundy on January 5, 2008 at 9:42 pm

An early Loew’s era photo can be seen here:
View link

spectrum
spectrum on September 30, 2007 at 5:44 pm

Craig Morrison’s “Theaters” book has a great street view of Hammerstein’s Olympia from Broadway. Quite an elaborate (and large) building!

Opened November 25, 1895, J. B. McElfatrick & Sons architects.

This was a somewhat different concept in entertainment — one ticket would provide access to the entire building which included a 3,815 sesat Music Hall, a 1,850 seat Theater (later called the criterion), a smaller concert hall, a refreshment area and a block-long glassed-in roof garden. Also planned were a rathskeller, an oriental cafe, a billiard parlor, a bowling alley and a turkish bath, but those were never built. Hammerstein was overly-ambitious in his plans and was bankrupt within a year, losing the Olympia to his creditors. But both he and the Olympia prospered for a number of years afterwards.

I do wonder at those seating figures stated above, given how much smaller the venues were when they were converted later (see above)

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 22, 2007 at 9:29 am

Warren, you just solved another mystery for me. I do show a Wonderland advertising in 1915 but no address.

Ed Solero
Ed Solero on February 10, 2007 at 7:54 pm

Here’s a scan from a 1988 edition of the New York Daily News Sunday Magazine, which was devoted to the history and future of Times Square. This image is dated 1905 and looks south towards the New York Times Building with the New York Theater (at this point a legit playhouse) prominent on the left. From this angle, one can clearly see the glass shedding that had been constructed to enclose the rooftop garden to create the Jardin de Paris theater – as described by Warren in the introductory remarks at the top of this page.

Ziggy
Ziggy on January 25, 2007 at 7:51 am

Warren, I’ve said it before, and I’ll undoubtedly say it again in a few months. I don’t know how you keep finding these wonderful photo, but thank you very much for sharing them!

Luis Vazquez
Luis Vazquez on January 22, 2007 at 10:59 am

I went to Bond’s International Casino when it was a disco in the mid 80’s when Times Square was still pretty tawdry. What made this disco different? Three things: 1) A musical staircase leading from Broadway entry level to the second floor Disco. Each step made a note when you walked on it. 2) A humongous dance floor! In addition to the standard strobe lights, Bond’s had Inflatable people that were about 5-10 times human size that would inflate and deflate overhead as you danced. 3) There was a stage with dancing fountains! The kids today have nothing like the clubs we had in our youth. While this club was not previously a theater, many of the best in New York were, including, but not limited to, Studio 54, Xenon, The Saint, Palladium and Club USA. Alas, all history now!

dave-bronx™
dave-bronx™ on January 21, 2007 at 9:34 am

Warren, was this actually demolished or was it stripped and reconfigured into the present Criterion building? The reason I ask is that when the Bonds store upstairs was converted into a discotheque in the late 70s, I was surprised to see that it was a large, tall and column-free space, and I always wondered if it had been a theatre at one time. Why would such a space, expensive to build in those days, be constructed for a retail clothing store?