New York City Center

Manhattan, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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New York City Center, located at 131 West 55th Street in Midtown Manhattan, is a performing arts complex built between 1922 and 1924 in the Moorish Revival style. Originally developed by the Shriners as a Masonic meeting house and designed by Harry P. Knowles and Clinton and Russell, the building features a striking ornate sandstone facade with a terracotta alfiz-like entryway and a 104-foot dome on its southern section. The main auditorium, now seating 2,257 across three levels, originally accommodated over four thousand people; beneath it lie two smaller theaters occupying what was once a banquet hall. The northern section houses four rehearsal studios and a 12-story office tower. After the Shriners vacated in 1940, Mayor Fiorello La Guardia and City Council president Newbold Morris established it as a municipal performing-arts venue, reopening in 1943. Now owned by New York City government, it serves as home to major dance companies, the Manhattan Theatre Club, and annual festivals including Encores! and Fall for Dance.

Movement

Moorish Revival architecture

Built: 1922
Type: theatre building, nonprofit organization
Heritage: New York City Landmark, National Register of Historic Places listed place
Place: Manhattan, United States

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Location

40.76389, -73.97944