Puerto Rican Travelling Theatre (New York City, New York) | interesting place

 theatre, interesting place

4-story Romanesque-revival/Queen Anne-style commercial building originally completed in 1888 as a firehouse. Designed by Napoleon LeBrun, it opened as the Fire Engine Company No. 54. The fire company served the community of Hells Kitchen/Clinton for ninety years. In 1974 it merged with Hook and Ladder Company No. 4 and relocated to 782 Eighth Avenue. The building was converted to a permanent 194-seat theater and offices for the award-winning Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre in the late 1970s. The mission of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre (PRTT) is to educate and acquaint the general public with important contributions by playwrights from Latino or Hispanic extraction; to present and produce truly bilingual professional theater; to offer artistic development to emerging and established artists; and in these ways to contribute towards the diversity of American theater and national culture.

The building's facade is clad in red brick with a bright red-painted cast-iron trabeated base. There is a large central entrance with two flanking pedestrian doorways. Each openings is flanked by smaller pilasters with Corinthian capitals. Two large pilasters are at the extreme right and left of the building, repeating the design of the smaller capital, with the exception of a sunflower above topped by inverted volute scrolls. The apparatus bay is now the central entrance, it consists of three panel-glass door with painted metal casing; above is a glass transom.

Both the 2nd & 3rd floors have three bays; above each floor a dogtooth patterned brick panel runs the width of all three bays. Each bay has the original, 2-over-2 windows with stone sills and lintels; the 3rd floor has slightly smaller 2-over-2 windows. The 4th floor is the most detailed, and consists of a large central arched two-over-two window flanked by two smaller 1-over-1 arched windows. A brick archivolt caps the arches of the windows at the 4th floor. The façade terminates with a terra cotta frieze ornamented with rosettes and a red pressed metal cornice framed by corbelled brick brackets. These support metal plinths ornamented with strap work and pediments enriched with sunbursts.

www.prtt.org/
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