Palace Theatre, Broadway NYC

The historic Palace Theatre, a Broadway landmark at 1564 Broadway, at the north end of Times Square, in the New York City, opened in March 1913. It was designated an interior NYC landmark in 1987. In its lifetime, the Palace Theatre has been transformed from vaudeville playhouse to movie house, to performing arts theater, hosting major Broadway stars such as Ethel Barrymore, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Jerry Lewis, Bette Midler, Shirley MacLaine, Diana Ross and Meryl Streep. The Palace has 1,740 seats and is one of the Nederlander Organization‘s nine Broadway theatres. It is co-owned with Stewart F. Lane.

The theater was built near the southeast corner of Seventh Avenue and 47th Street by mogul Martin Beck and designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchhoff & Rose. The office wing was an 11-story structure, which served as the theater's main entrance. The proscenium arch measures 44 feet across. It contains pellet, egg-and-dart, and acanthus-leaf moldings surrounding a band of acanthus leaves. The top of the arch consists of a keystone with a molding of a child's head. A sounding board rises above the proscenium arch, with foliate bands at the perimeter. At the center of the sounding board, above the stage, is a circular panel depicting a lyre. The orchestra pit is at the front of the orchestra seating level, in front of the proscenium. It dates from a 1965 renovation and contains high walls. The stage is behind the proscenium arch and orchestra pit.

By 1930 and through the early 1960s, the theater was primarily used as a movie palace. It was purchased by the Nederlanders in 1965 and underwent a renovation. It became a legit theatre in 1966 with the opening of Sweet Charity, starring Gwen Verdon and directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse.

The original theater building was partly demolished in 1988 and the theater space was renovated inside the DoubleTree Suites Times Square Hotel, completed in 1991. The hotel was demolished in 2019 to make way for the TSX Broadway development.