The City of New York defines the subdistrict for zoning purposes to extend from 40th Street to 57th Street and from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue, with an additional area west of Eighth Avenue from 42nd Street to 45th Street.[6] The Times Square Alliance, a Business Improvement District organization dedicated to improving the Theater District, defines the district as an irregularly shaped area within the bounding box of 40th Street, 6th Avenue, 53rd Street, and 9th Avenue.[7] As of 2024, the Vivian Beaumont Theater (part of Lincoln Center) is the only Broadway-class theater not located in the Theater District.
"The Great White Way" is a nickname for a section of Broadway in Midtown Manhattan that encompasses the Theater District. In 1880, Broadway between Union Square and Madison Square was illuminated by Brusharc lamps, making it among the first electrically lighted streets in the United States.[10] By the 1890s, 23rd Street to 34th Street was so brightly illuminated by electrical advertising signs people began calling it "The Great White Way".[11] As the theater district shifted uptown just before the turn of the century, the nickname stuck and became synonymous.[12]
Over the years, the district has been referred to by New Yorkers as "the Rialto", "The Main Stem", and "Broadway". Around the turn of the 20th century, it was simply called "The Street".[13][14]
By the 1970s, 42nd Street was seedy and run-down; X-rated movie houses, peep shows, and so-called grindhouses began to locate there. It was considered by some New Yorkers as a somewhat dangerous place to venture. However, in the 1990s the entire area was significantly revitalized by the city. Most of the adult theater businesses closed and an array of new theaters, multiplex movie houses, restaurants, and tourist attractions opened.[4]
In early 1982, Joseph Papp, the Broadway theatrical producer, and director who had established The Public Theater, led a campaign called "Save the Theatres" in Manhattan.[17] The primary initial goal of the "Save the Theatres" effort, which was sponsored by Papp's not-for-profit group and supported by the Actors Equity union, was to save several theater buildings in the Theatre District neighborhood from their impending demolition by monied Manhattan development interests.[18][19][20][21] Papp provided financial resources, campaign buttons, posters, and newspaper ads for the effort; recruited a publicist and actors to promote the cause; and provided a various stage and street venues for public events in support of the campaign for saving the historic theatres.[19]
At Papp's behest, in July 1982, U.S. Representative Donald J. Mitchell of New York and 13 co-sponsors[a] introduced a bill titled "A bill to designate the Broadway/Times Square Theatre District in the City of New York as a national historic site" (H.R. 6885).[23] The proposed legislation, which was not enacted, would have required the Federal Government to aid financially and otherwise in preserving the district and its historic theatre houses as an official National Historic Site.[23]
The Save the Theatres campaign then turned their efforts toward supporting the establishment of the Theater District as a New York City historic district under the purview of the LPC.[24][25] In December 1983, Save the Theatres prepared "The Broadway Theater District, a Preservation Development and Management Plan," and demanded that each theater in the district receive landmark designation.[25] Mayor Ed Koch ultimately responded by creating a Theater Advisory Council, that included Papp as a member,[19] and which eventually led to the area being officially zoned as the "Theater Subdistrict".[2] Each theater's land lot could be developed with a certain maximum floor area, but many theaters used far less floor area than the maximum. The zoning plan allowed the unused development rights on the theaters' site to be sold to developers of nearby buildings that needed more than the maximum floor area.[26]
Landmark status for individual theaters
The LPC considered protecting close to 50 "legitimate theaters" as individual city landmarks in 1982, following the destruction of the Helen Hayes and Morosco theatres. A city-landmark status would prevent the theaters from being modified without the LPC's permission, thereby protecting them from development. The landmarks under consideration included both facades and interiors, which were designated separately.[27]Manhattan Community Board 5, under whose jurisdiction the vast majority of the theaters fell, supported many of the proposed landmark protections.[28] An advisory panel under mayor Koch voted to allow the LPC consider theaters not only on their historical significance but also on their architectural merits.[29] In response to objections from some of the major theatrical operators, several dozen scenic and lighting designers offered to work on the LPC for creating guidelines for potential landmarks.[30]
The first theaters to be landmarked under the 1982 plan were the Neil Simon, Ambassador, and Virginia (August Wilson) in August 1985.[31][32] The landmark plan was then deferred temporarily until some landmark guidelines were enacted;[33] the guidelines, implemented in December 1985, allowed operators to modify theaters for productions without having to consult the LPC.[34][35] The three theaters' operators objected to the landmark statuses.[35][36]
In March 1988, the New York City Board of Estimate approved the 28 landmark designations that had been approved in 1987 and 1988.[46][47] Of these, both the interior and exterior of 19 theaters were protected, while only the interiors of seven theaters (including the Lyceum, whose exterior was already protected) and the exteriors of two theaters were approved.[47] Several theater owners argued that the landmark designations impacted them negatively, despite Koch's outreach to theater owners.[48] The Shuberts, the Nederlanders, and Jujamcyn collectively sued the LPC in June 1988 to overturn the landmark designations of 22 theaters on the merit that the designations severely limited the extent to which the theaters could be modified.[49] The New York Supreme Court upheld the LPC's designations of these theaters the next year.[50][51] The dispute went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which upheld the designations in 1992.[52]
Theater Subdistrict zoning
In January 2001, the New York Appellate Division, First Department in Fisher v. Giuliani, partially upheld the 1998 expansion of the Theater Subdistrict zoning regulations, which added receiving sites along Eighth Avenue where development rights from the landmarked Broadway theaters could be sold. Community and civil society organizations opposed the expansion of the district as it would impinge the nearby residential neighborhood of Hell's Kitchen/Clinton. The court objection, filed in 1999, did not challenge the pre-existing Theater Subdistrict itself or the original development rights zoning legislation.[53]
Under the 1998 zoning regulation, New York City also created the Theater Subdistrict Council (TSC), a not-for-profit corporation.[54] The TSC administers the Theater Subdistrict Fund and allocates grants.[54]
The New York City Zoning Resolution for special purpose districts, as amended on April 30, 2012, contains special regulations for the Theater Subdistrict, including the transfer of development rights, incentives for the rehabilitation of existing theaters, the creation of a theater council to promote theaters, and zoning and signage for theaters, and contains a list of theaters that qualify for special provisions in the regulations.[55]
^Polsky, Carol (August 7, 1985). "3 Theaters Named Landmarks". Newsday. p. 32. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
^"Legitimate: Landmarks Panel Issues Guidelines; Owners Not Happy". Variety. Vol. 321, no. 8. December 18, 1985. pp. 89, 94. ProQuest1438433105.
^ abShepard, Joan (December 19, 1985). "Limit on B'way landmarks urged". Daily News. p. 165. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
^Shepard, Joan; Lippman, Barbara (November 11, 1987). "3 theaters get landmark status". Daily News. p. 79. Archived from the original on October 29, 2021. Retrieved October 29, 2021.
^Walsh, Thomas (December 15, 1989). "$200 Million Landmark Lawsuit Dismissed; Designations Are Intact". Back Stage. Vol. 30, no. 50. pp. 1A, 4A. ProQuest962873540.
Bianco, Anthony (2004). Ghosts of 42nd Street: A History of America's Most Infamous Block. New York: HarperCollins Books, ISBN0-688-17089-7. A detailed history that focuses primarily of the Times Square Theater District from the beginning of the 20th century through its successful revival/restoration in the late 20th century.
