Booth's Theatre

Booth's Theatre was a theatre in Manhattan built by actor Edwin Booth. Located on the southeast corner of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue, Booth's Theatre opened on February 3, 1869.

The Theatre featured a grand vestibule with Italian marble floors and a large statue of Edwin Booth's father, the Shakespearean actor, Junius Brutus Booth by the sculptor Thomas Ridgeway Gould. The auditorium was similarly elaborate in its decor, and featured a large chandelier, as well as a stage that incorporated the most modern machinery in use at the time, such hydraulic rams to raise and lower scenery, and stage lights that could be completely extinguished during the performance, a first in the United States.

Despite the appearances by important talent of the times, Booth could not make the Theatre a financially viable enterprise. It was sold in December 1881, and was converted into McCreery & Co. department store until 1965, when it was demolished to make room for a parking lot.

In 1869, Edwin Booth, then one of the world's most distinguished stage tragedians and arguably America's greatest Hamlet, opened his theatre, Booth's Theatre, in Manhattan on the southeast corner of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue.

Central to the identity of Booth's theatre was the stage background of Edwin Booth, who belonged to the Booth Family dynasty, which ruled the American stage in the 19th century. It was actually touring with his father, Junius Brutus Booth, that gave Edwin his first break, first appearing as Tressel in Richard II in Boston in 1849. After his father's death in 1852 Booth toured internationally, visiting Australia and Hawaii and briefly settling in California before returning to East Coast. Edwin is perhaps best known for his "hundred nights of Hamlet" in which he played Hamlet for 101 consecutive performances, a record held until 1922. Booth is also known for his relationship with his infamous brother, John Wilkes, who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. After the tragedy, Edwin publicly disowned his brother.

Booth had been drawn to the idea of erecting his own theatre, particularly after he purchased the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia. Plans overtook Booth when a tragic fire of 1867 consumed The Winter Garden Theatre - Booth's usual performing home in New York - and with it much of Booth's personal wardrobe. The new theatre was to be one of the finest of its time, called in the press "A fitting temple for the presentation of Shakspearean drama."

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