Booth Theatre

 theatre, 1913_construction, Renaissance Revival (architecture)

5-story Venetian Renaissance theater completed in 1913. Designed by Henry B. Herts, it was named in honor of famed 19th-century American actor Edwin Booth, brother of John Wilkes Booth. The venue was the second New York City theatre to bear this name. The first was built by Booth himself in 1869 on the corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue. Herts also designed the Shubert Theater directly to the south. The theater's 783-seat auditorium was intended to provide an intimate setting for dramatic and comedy plays. It opened on October 16, 1913 with Arnold Bennett's play The Great Adventure.

The Booth by virtue of its location on 45th Street and Shubert Alley has two major designed facades joined in a projecting curved pavilion at the northeast corner of the building. The 45th Street facade rises from a tan-painted stone base surmounted by rusticated terra-cotta blocks which is interrupted by three tall arches at the center and display boxes topped by stylized broken segmental pediments at the side. Exit doors, originally of paneled wood, but now covered with posters under plexiglass, are set below oblong display boxes in the location of the original transoms in the three arches. Across the arches with their rusticated voussoirs is suspended a modern marquee with signs from original standards and decorative iron plates. The three arches contain sgraffito panels with figures. The wall section surrounding the arches is faced in beige brick laid up in English bond and is flanked by pilasters of simulated terra-cotta quoins terminating in stylized Corinthian capitals with shield and griffin's head motifs. A stucco band with stylized classical foliate ornament in bas-relief surrounds the brick wall. Metal letters reading "THE BOOTH THEATRE" are placed on the brick wall. The upper portion of the facade is composed of a large stuccoed frieze, worked in sgraffito displaying figures carrying urns and staffs and grotesques holding swags, flanked by terra-cotta panel sections and containing a terra-cotta central heraldic cartouche set within a stylized aedicule with segmental broken pediment. The facade is surmounted by a sheet-metal cornice set above an ornate paneled frieze and carried on sheet-metal brackets adorned with grotesque masks. The exposed brick wall at the west contains a fire escape.

The projecting curved corner pavilion contains a large central doorway framed by stucco panels with foliate ornament in bas-relief and surmounted by a fluted entablature carrying a broken pediment containing an urn flanked by dolphins. Modern aluminum and glass doors are protected by a rounded, blue canvas canopy extending out over the sidewalk. An aluminum display box is to the left of the doorway. The wall extending out and up from the doorway is of brick, like that on the 45th Street facade, and is flanked by pilasters of simulated quoins terminating in Corinthian capitals. The upper portion of the pavilion is a stucco frieze, originally worked in sgraffito, with a central oval window with a scrolled surround flanked by stylized consoles supporting a broken segmental pediment. Centered in the pediment is a mask with drapery swags suspended from its mouth. The cornice is like that above the 45th Street facade. A sign board is placed on top of the pavilion.

The Shubert Alley facade is divided into two sections. The portion adjacent to the corner pavilion has one pair of aluminum and glass doors at the ground floor, surmounted by a frieze and oblong display boxes. A modern marquee is suspended above the door from original standards and wall plates. The wall above the marquee is of the same beige brick in English cross bond flanked by pilasters of simulated quoins and surrounded by a foliated bas-relief stucco band. A stylized Corinthian capital caps the quoins adjacent to the corner. Above the brick is the stucco frieze, with three figural panels in original sgraffito work, with a terra-cotta panel section adjacent to the corner. The cornice continues from the corner pavilion. To the south of this portion is a large expanse of brick wall, also in English cross bond, flanked by simulated quoins indicating the presence of the auditorium and adjacent stages shared by the Booth and Shubert Theaters Additional doors are at the ground floor. Rows of windows with one-over-one kalamine sash are placed at the 2nd, 3rd & 4th floors, and a large terra-cotta shield is centered on the wall. A brick wall section enclosing the upper part of the stage house and containing a sgraffito panel rises above the roof parapet. This section of the building how houses One Shubert Alley in a space of three forming dressing rooms, which is Broadway's oldest and most exclusive gift store.

www.shubertorganization.com/theatres/booth.asp