Vivian Beaumont Theater

Manhattan, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

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The Vivian Beaumont Theater is a Broadway theater at Lincoln Center in Manhattan, designed by modernist architect Eero Saarinen as one of his final commissions and completed in 1965. Named after heiress and actress Vivian Beaumont Allen, whose $3 million donation in 1958 funded its construction, the theater occupies the southern and western sides of the first and second floors of a building it shares with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The main facade, facing Lincoln Center's plaza, features glass and steel with a travertine attic, while the primary auditorium seats approximately 1,080 across two steeply sloped semicircular levels. Designed with input from Broadway scenic designer Jo Mielziner, the Beaumont pioneered the use of a flexible stage capable of extending with a variable thrust stage—a feature that, despite its innovation, drew early complaints about sightlines and acoustics. The building also houses two additional venues: the 299-seat Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater in the basement and the 112-seat Claire Tow Theater above the main auditorium. Operated today by the nonprofit Lincoln Center Theater, the Beaumont remains the only Broadway theater outside the Times Square Theater District.

Architect

Eero Saarinen

Built: 1965
Type: theatre building
Place: Manhattan, United States

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Location

40.77361, -73.98417