The New Century Theatre was a

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

theater in the

Midtown Manhattan Midtown Manhattan is the central portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan and serves as the city's primary central business district. Midtown is home to some of the city's most prominent buildings, including the Empire State Buildi ...

neighborhood of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, at 205–207 West 58th Street and 926–932 Seventh Avenue. Opened on October 6, 1921, as Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, the theater was designed by Herbert J. Krapp on the site of the Central Park Riding Academy. It was built for the

Shubert brothers The Shubert family was responsible for the establishment of the Broadway district, in New York City, as the hub of the theater industry in the United States. They dominated the legitimate theater and vaudeville in the first half of the 20th c ...

, who named the house after

Al Jolson Al Jolson (born Eizer Yoelson; June 9, 1886 – October 23, 1950) was a Lithuanian-American Jewish singer, comedian, actor, and vaudevillian. He was one of the United States' most famous and highest-paid stars of the 1920s, and was self-billed ...

. In 1920, the Shuberts announced plans to convert the Central Park Riding Academy into a theater, hiring Krapp to renovate the old structure. The Shuberts went bankrupt in 1931 and sold off Jolson's 59th Street Theatre, in part because of the venue's remoteness from

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

. The venue was then leased as a film house called the Central Park Theatre. It was then renamed five more times before assuming the "New Century" name in 1944. The theater was converted to an

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

broadcast studio in 1953, then to a videotape studio in 1958. Upon the theater's demolition in 1962, the apartment building

200 Central Park South 200 Central Park South is a Modern-style building on the south side of Central Park in New York City, at the corner of 7th Avenue and Central Park South ( 59th Street). It is most notable for its curving facade, banded by balconies. Its exterior ...

was erected on the site.

References

External links

* {{Midtown North, Manhattan 1921 establishments in New York City 1962 disestablishments in New York (state) Demolished buildings and structures in Manhattan Demolished theatres in New York City Former Broadway theatres Former theatres in Manhattan Midtown Manhattan Seventh Avenue (Manhattan) Theatres completed in 1921