Loew's New York Theatre and Roof

spectrum on September 30, 2007 at 10:44 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)

Ed Solero on February 11, 2007 at 12:54 am

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.

Luis Vazquez on January 22, 2007 at 3:59 pm

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!