| Century Theatre | |
|---|---|
 | |
 | |
| Alternative names | New Theatre Century Opera House |
| General information | |
| Type | Theatre,opera house |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Location | Central Park West at 62nd Street,New York City (Upper West Side,Manhattan),New York, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°46′12″N73°58′50″W / 40.7701°N 73.9806°W /40.7701; -73.9806 |
| Construction started | 1906 |
| Inaugurated | 1909 |
| Demolished | 1930[3] |
| Cost | $1,700,000 (budget) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Exterior supporting masonry, internal steel columns and girders |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | Carrère and Hastings |
| References | |
| Barber, Donn, editor (November 1909).The New York Architect3 (11). New York: Harwell-Evans. | |
TheCentury Theatre, originally theNew Theatre, was a theatre at 62nd Street andCentral Park West on theUpper West Side ofManhattan inNew York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful. It was briefly renamed theCentury Opera House in 1913, until reverting back to the Century Theatre in 1915. The theatre was demolished in 1930 and replaced byThe Century apartment building.
The New Theatre was once called "New York's most spectacularly unsuccessful theater" in theWPA Guide to New York City. Envisioned in 1906 byHeinrich Conried, a director of theMetropolitan Opera House, its construction was an attempt to establish a great theatre at New York free of commercialism, one that, broadly speaking, would resemble theComédie Française ofParis. Thirty founders each subscribed $35,000 at the start, and a building designed to be the permanent home of a repertory company was constructed onCentral Park West on theUpper West Side at a cost of three million dollars. Architecturally, it was one of the handsomest structures in the city, designed by the prominentBeaux-Arts architectural firmCarrère and Hastings.
WithWinthrop Ames as the only director, theNew Theatre Company occupied the building for only two seasons, 1909–10 and 1910–11. Capable of seating 2,300 persons, the New Theatre was opened on Saturday, November 6, 1909, with impressive ceremonies and apparently under the most favoring auspices, but a serious defect in the acoustics became apparent at once and this was only partly remedied by the installation of a sound-deflecting bell. The world premiere of Sergei Rachmaninoff's3rd piano concerto took place on Sunday, November 28, 1909, at the New Theatre, with Rachmaninoff as soloist and Walter Damrosch conducting the New York Symphony Society. SeveralShakespearean plays were given, by far the most notable presentation being that ofThe Winter's Tale. On the whole the company did its best ensemble work in some of the modern plays of that time, likeMaeterlinck'sThe Blue Bird andSister Beatrice,Galsworthy'sStrife, andEdward Sheldon'sThe Nigger starringAnnie Russell. A poetic drama of distinction wasJosephine Preston Peabody'sThe Piper. In most cases the stage settings were of very high quality.
The building was located a mile above theTheater District, and it was exceedingly expensive to maintain. Financially, the venture proved to be aboondoggle.[4] At the end of the second season, the founders of the company decided to abandon the theatre and lease it out.[5] Plans were made to construct a smaller building in the theatre district,[6] but it was found to be impracticable and the company folded.[7] The theatre criticWilliam Winter wrote:
Not long ago an institution which was expected to benefit the Stage and the Public went down in miserable failure, in the collapse of the New Theatre. The Directors of that institution provided 'practically unlimited capital' for the venture, — an aid whichLester Wallack, for one, never had and never dreamed of having. The observer of to-day was able to see at first hand exactly what kind of theatrical company could be formed after a long absence of stock-companies; half a million dollars was lost in the effort, and persons of experience, knowledge, and taste have had an opportunity to see what the much-vaunted 'commercialism' has really done for the American Stage, and how necessary it is that other forces should control it.[8]
In 1911, the building was leased to other theatre managers, who changed the name to the Century Theatre, the Century Opera House (1913), and the Century once more (1915), withFlorenz Ziegfeld as manager.
From Europe in 1912 cameJudith Gautier andPierre Loti, producers and supervisors ofThe Daughter of Heaven. Despite their efforts, the critic ofThe New York Times found the play "rich in spectacle, but dramatically deficient", and the scene changes tedious and "long delayed".[9]
In 1917, producers Florenz Ziegfeld andCharles Dillingham opened the roof garden[10][11] as anightclub and named it the Cocoanut Grove, based on the success of a similar venue, Ziegfeld Midnight Frolic at theNew Amsterdam Theatre.[12] The "Shrine of Snobbism", as theWPA Guide called it,[13] was demolished in 1930.[14] The next year, theArt Deco Century Apartments (designed and developed by the office ofIrwin S. Chanin) was completed on the Century Theatre's site.[15][16][17]
Drypoint Plate: 8 5/8 x 11 1/8 in.; sheet: 13 3/4 x 17 1/4 in.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Gilman, D. C.; Peck, H. T.; Colby, F. M., eds. (1905). "Unknown".New International Encyclopedia (1st ed.). New York: Dodd, Mead.
