Peer Reviewed

Title: New Amsterdam Theatre, New Victory Theater, Theater Row [PLACEMARK Award: Hugh Hardy]

Journal Issue: Places, 14(2)

Author: Bressi, Todd W

Publication Date: 2001

Publication Info: Places

Permalink: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/5jz3q0gc

Acknowledgements: This article was originally produced in Places Journal. To subscribe, visit www.places-journal.org. For reprint information, contact [email protected].

Keywords: places, placemaking, architecture, environment, landscape, urban design, public realm, planning, design, placemark, award, Hugh Hardy, Todd Bressi, New Amsterdam, New Victory Theater, theater, theatre, row

Copyright Information: All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. Contact the author or original publisher for any necessary permissions. eScholarship is not the copyright owner for deposited works. Learn more at http://www.escholarship.org/help_copyright.html#reuse

eScholarship provides open access, scholarly publishing services to the University of California and delivers a dynamic research platform to scholars worldwide. New Amsterdam Theatre, New Victory Theater

The restoration of two historic theaters not only jump-starts Times Square’s recent revival but also enables theater- goers to revel in the area’s complex architectural history.

Top: New Amsterdam Theatre Above: The new theatres, signage and interior detail which face each other across reflect different eras of renova- the street, were among the tion. Left photo © Chris Lovi, first signs of change along right photo by Whitney Cox, redeveloping 42nd Street. © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Photo © Elliott Kaufman

20 PLACES14:2 Theater Row Theatre Row, section, showing weaving of multiple-theatre A careful collaboration between access lobby, upper-level theater companies, theater operators theatre, and apartments into and a residential developer extends a complex site. Courtesy Hardy Holzman Times Square’s renewal westward and Pfeiffer strengthens its residential community.

After more than a decade of false starts, the chased much of the blockfront and created a the- Times Square redevelopment burst to life with ater laboratory for small companies. the opening of the New Victory Theatre in 1995 The current project will include the construc- and the New Amsterdam Theater in 1997. tion of six new theaters, varying in size from 83 to Hardy’s “interpretive restorations” became 499 seats, rehearsal studios and support spaces, all touchstones for public discourse about Times topped by a forty-story residential building, The- Square’s nature, conversations that until then ater Tower. Thus the block will continue to pro- had been colored by distant memories, nostalgia, vide an incubator for various sizes of productions, even myth. yet in fresher, more supportive facilities, and adds Before the completion of these theaters, the to the life of the theater district by increasing the most visible manifestation of change at Times residential presence there. Square was the cacophony of signage erected Just as the Times Square redevelopment under special Times Square zoning rules and an demonstrates the constellation of public, civic and interim redevelopment plan for 42nd Street private resources that must align to inspire urban between Seventh and Eighth Avenues—urban regeneration, the Theater Row and Theater design initiatives that extrapolated, perhaps Tower project is emblematic of the symbiotic exaggerated, one of the brashest aspects of the relationship between the arts and urban develop- area’s history. ment. Theater has colonized Times Square over The restorations, instead, were true to the evo- and over again; in recent years, the income from lutionary nature of Times Square, not restoring large real-estate projects has been increasingly the theaters to any one point in time, not elevat- necessary to underwrite spaces that afford artists ing them to mythical status, but embracing the full creative liberty. Not surprisingly, it is archi- multiple layers of history as evidenced in various tecture that steps into the bargain. architectural modifications. In the few years since then, nearly every prop- —Todd W. Bressi erty in the Times Square redevelopment area has been redeveloped, and attention is turning to the surrounding area. Theater Row, a vibrant strip of tiny theaters two blocks west of Times Square, dates back more than twenty-five years, when small theater companies started leasing space in the block. A non-profit group subsequently pur-

PLACES14:2 PLACEMARK AWARD : HUGH HARDY 21