Booth's Theatre - History - Construction

Construction

On April 8, 1868, after the removal of several old structures and blasting out an unexpected "stone ledge" at the corner of Twenty Third and Sixth Avenue, Edwin Booth, after "Masonic observances", laid the cornerstone for his new theatre. Designed by the architectural firm of Renwick and Sands the theatre was made of granite in the Second Empire style, with an impressive front, iron-trimmed facing north on Twenty Third Street of one hundred and fifty feet in length. An additional wing extending to Sixth Avenue to the west, housed construction shops, studios and additional rooms- one which was reserved for Edwin Booth. North to south, the theatre was one hundred feet, and stood at a height of one hundred and twenty feet, topped with a mansard roof, including three towers. Under the side walk along Twenty Third Street was the carpenter's shop, as well as a boiler-room with a steam engine used to heat the theatre through extensive hot-air pipes. The entire theatre was heated and cooled with forced air.

Several arched doors led to a grand vestibule, where a large statue of Edwin Booth's father, the great Shakespearean actor, Junius Brutus Booth, by the sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould, greeted the audience. The floor was Italian marble, the ceiling was covered with frescoes.

In the theatre, a large chandelier, lit by gas-jets ignited by electricity, hung above the auditorium. Marble pillars, adorned with statues, surrounded the box seats. In the center, above the proscenium arch stood a statue of Shakespeare by the Italian sculptor Signor G. Turini. Portrait busts of David Garrick, Edmund Kean and other great actors adorned the proscenium arch.

The stage itself was equipped with the most modern stage machinery then in use. The deck of the stage had double-floors. Four spiral staircases surrounded the stage leading to four fly galleries. Scenery was raised and lowered by hydraulic rams under the stage.

These were but some of the innovations in the theatre that made the theatre an architectural marvel in New York. Others included one of New York's first sprinkler systems for fire prevention, and, backstage, sets of hydraulic ramps were used to raise moving bridges and platforms to change scenery.

In addition, stage lights - for the first time in America - could be completely extinguished both in the auditorium and on the stage during the performance through the use of an electric spark ignition system. This facilitated being able to plunge the entire theatre - both stage and auditorium - into complete darkness during a performance of Booth's Hamlet.

Booth's Theatre, modeled after the finest theatres of Europe, and using American inventiveness, was a marvel of technology and a palace of theatrical pleasure.