New Victory Theater
209 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
209 W. 42nd Street,
New York,
NY
10036
20 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
The New Victory Theater (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Brandt Theaters
Architects: John Bailey McElfatrick
Firms: J. B. McElfatrick and Sons
Functions: Live Theater
Styles: Beaux-Arts
Previous Names: Theatre Republic, Belasco Theatre, Republic Theatre, Victory Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
646.223.3000
Nearby Theaters
For over 105 years, the New Victory Theater has stood stoically along the ever-changing landscape of New York’s famed W. 42nd Street.
Built as a legitimate theatre in 1900, as the Theatre Republic, the architecture and design of the theatre heralded a new era in showmanship and exhibition. In 1902, David Belasco took over the theatre and renamed it the Belasco Theatre.
By 1914, the theatre was renamed again, as the Republic Theatre. The theatre continued its run as a legitimate theatre until 1932, when it became Broadway’s first burlesque house.
By the 1940’s, the theatre was renamed Victory Theatre and began to show second-run movies. When W. 42nd Street’s fortunes plummeted in the 1970’s, the Victory Theatre became the first to show pornographic movies and continued doing so into the late-1980’s.
In 1990, the Victory Theatre came under public ownership, in an effort to revitalize W. 42nd Street. Leased to a nonprofit organization, the theatre’s renovation began in August of 1994 and was completed in December 1995 at a total cost of $11.4 million.
The theatre is now re-opened as the New Victory Theater (not Theatre) and remains a vision of beauty and a catalyst for all that has evolved on W. 42nd Street.
Contributed by
Scott Oberstaedt
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Recent comments (view all 106 comments)
Great mid `50’s marquee photo added courtesy of Jim Jordan.
Article about Time Square with a photo of the Victory and other theatres.
http://gearsofbiz.com/the-evolution-of-new-yorks-times-square/32320
Looking for information for Brandts Victory theatre. My dad went there in the 50’s and got a 5 x 7 pic of Frankenstein. It says on it-I’ll be scaring you Frankenstein at the Brandts Victory Theatre 42nd and Broadway. Was wondering if this was just that they were showing the movie or was someone dressed as Frankenstein showing up at the screening? Any help is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
wolftoy…..if you go to google images and type in “victory theater frankenstein and dracula” you will see a beautiful image of the marquee from around 1952.
Did anyone go to this theatre when it was showing porn? I would like to know what the condition of this place like during it’s porn days
I did Wilburg 145. It was no different than all the other theaters on 42nd St. They were all sleezy even first run houses.
I just uploaded a photo from a 1959 NYT Sidney Poitier photo shoot across from the Victory. Good example of the types of double features on 42nd Street back in the day.
Victory in 1971 among others in below link.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21612362@N05/sets/72157629137226648/with/6948877089/?fbclid=IwAR1yqOGPN-v1_cRyUSinKoWV4hCX4HXAmeEfPLKcRvwAq8Q2QU9sBzMfxZk
Hello- how different is the renovated theater’s interior to what it was when it opened in 1900?
The biggest difference is that the renovations moved the back wall of the auditorium closer to the stage, allowing for the construction of a proper lobby that improves sound insulation from the noise of the street and has stairs to the basement, which connects to the expanded footprint in what used to be buildings behind the east end of the theater, giving better backstage areas and a proper loading dock off 42nd (themselves now hidden behind the facade of the adjacent 3 Times Square Thompson Reuters building). Makes the theatre usable in a modern context.
This also reduced the capacity, but that was intentional, as its current seating capacity of exactly 499 seats means it’s technically an off-Broadway theatre, placing it under that tier of contracts, a necessity to keep their low-cost, kid’s-education-oriented programming viable. It’s a fine and worthy institution.