SVA Theatre

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1-story theater building originally completed in 1963 to a design by John J. McNamara, as the RKO Theater, originally as a single-screen movie house. During the 1970’s, Roundabout Theatre plays replaced movies here. It 1984 it was converted to a triplex, and in 1996 Cineplex Odeon un-twinned the lower section and renamed what became a two screener as the Chelsea West Twin Cinemas. Shortly after the renovation, Cineplex Odeon merged with Loews and due to an antitrust agreement, divested this theater. Clearview took over, and the 2-screen Chelsea West Cinemas was booked as a combined 11-screener with the nearby Chelsea Cinemas 9 that is just down the street. The theater was tastefully maintained, but lost its 1960’s flourishes, save for the green tile on the façade and in the bathrooms. Clearview ceased operating the Chelsea West in 2008. The School of Visual Arts began a 26 year lease on the theater, to use it as a repertory and special event venue, and renamed it the Visual Arts Theater, with renovations designed by Milton Glaser.

The facade is clad in light salmon-colored concrete panels, above a ground level of light-blue tiles. The entrance is at the east end of the south facade, with two sets of glass double-doors recessed to the right of the angled ticket booth, and covered by a large silver metal marquee with digital boards on all three sides. The SVA Theatre is widely known for Milton Glaser’s iconic kinetic sculpture atop the marquee, which comes to life every hour on the hour. Based on Tatlin’s Tower, the iconic monument to the Bolshevik Revolution proposed by visionary architect Vladimir Tatlin in 1920, Glaser’s colorful homage consists of three metal cylinders that rotate at hourly intervals like an abstract timepiece, colored bright blue, green, yellow, and red.

The only other openings on the south facade are a set of metal service doors near the center, and another at the west end.