Victoria Theater (New York City)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Victoria_Theater_227_West_125th_Street_WTM3_The_Fixers_0048.jpg/220px-Victoria_Theater_227_West_125th_Street_WTM3_The_Fixers_0048.jpg)
Victoria Theater is a theater located on 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was designed in 1917 by Thomas W. Lamb, a notable and prolific theater architect of the era, for the Loew's Corporation.[1]
The Loew's Victoria Theater, as it was known until 1977, opened as a 2,394-seat, luxury Vaudeville and motion picture theater.[2] Typical of movie palaces of its era, it contained a stage and backstage dressing rooms and provisions for live music, including an organ. It cost $250,000 to build and was hailed “as one of the largest and most beautiful theaters in greater N.Y.” by a contemporary publication.[2] When the Victoria was built, it joined many other Harlem theaters including the Proctor, Hammerstein Opera House, the Alhambra as well as the nearby Apollo, then the Hurtig & Seamon's New (Burlesque) Theater.[2]
In 1977, the Harlem Community Development Corporation acquired the building.[2]
The Victoria has experienced numerous changes since its opening, the most radical being its conversion to a multi-screen movie theater; in 1987, five movie theaters were created from the large auditorium, mezzanine and stage areas.[2] The theater closed as a cinema in 1989, though a 400-seat venue was left intact in the orchestra, at which the original Harlem company of Godspell, which drew major newspaper and television network broadcast coverage, ran for approximately a year in the 1996/97 season.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9] In 2005 several proposals for redevelopment were made.[10] Only two proposals call for reusing the theater's interior, which has angered some community leaders, according to the New York Times.[11]
The new Victoria Theater project, developed by the and , designed by architect Ariel Aufgang and interiors by , began construction in April 2017 and is scheduled to open in the spring of 2019. The completed 400,000-square-foot structure will have 191 mixed-income rental apartments; a 210-room Marriott Renaissance hotel; about 25,000 square feet of retail; and another 25,000 square feet of cultural and arts space.[12]
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References[]
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- ^ New York Times May 17, 2006
- ^ a b c d e RFP: Victoria Theater
- ^ First All-Black Version of Godspell Begins Previews
- ^ Godspell Brings Uplift Uptown
- ^ New Godspell Updates Show to 21st Century Harlem
- ^ Godspell rocking the house at Harlem's Victoria Theatre[dead link]
- ^ Off-Bway Godspell Eyes Move With Jackson And/Or Vereen
- ^ Harlem Godspell Fighting Media Indifference Day by Day
- ^ With Empty Seats at Godspell, An Organizer Cries Bias
- ^ Groups Vie to Reimagine Loew's Victoria Theater - Wired New York Forum
- ^ The Real Deal - Take the A Train - to your Harlem hotel
- ^ Cuozzo, Steve (2017-04-25). "Oft-delayed Harlem development breathes new life". New York Post. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
Coordinates: 40°48′35.08″N 73°56′58.28″W / 40.8097444°N 73.9495222°W
- Movie palaces
- Theatres in Manhattan
- Harlem
- Loew's Theatres buildings and structures
- Thomas W. Lamb buildings