Tour: Landmark Battles of Broadway's Theater District

Sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. Reservations required ($20; $15 MAS members). To register, call 212-935-3960, or click here to register on-line.

The great Broadway theaters, built between the turn of the century and the onset of the Great Depression, are stunning works of art in themselves as well as monuments to the lively history of American theater. During the 1980s, their fate hung in balance as the city sought redevelopment to clean up the area’s crime and pornography – construction of the Marriott Marquis hotel required demolition of five theaters. After several years of controversy, the Landmarks Commission designated most of the surviving theaters, many of which have since undergone major restorations. Your guide served as the Commission’s Deputy Director of Research in the 1980s, and led the staff effort to document the theaters’ architecture and history.