Century Theatre (New York City)

Century Theatre
The New Theatre on Central Park West, New York City, 1909.
Alternative names	New Theatre Century Opera House
General information
Type	Theatre, opera house
Architectural style	Beaux-Arts
Location	Central Park West at 62nd Street, New York City, New York, United States
Coordinates	40°46′12″N 73°58′50″W / 40.7701°N 73.9806°W / 40.7701; -73.9806
Construction started	1906
Inaugurated	1909
Demolished	1931
Cost	$1,700,000 (budget)
Technical details
Structural system	Exterior supporting masonry, internal steel columns and girders
Design and construction
Architect	Carrère and Hastings
References
Barber, Donn, editor (November 1909). The New York Architect 3 (11). New York: Harwell-Evans.

The Century Theatre, originally the New Theatre, was a theater located at 62nd Street and Central Park West in New York City. Opened on November 6, 1909, it was noted for its fine architecture but due to poor acoustics and an inconvenient location it was financially unsuccessful. The theater was demolished in 1931 and replaced by the Century Apartments building.

The New Theatre was once called "New York's most spectacularly unsuccessful theater" in the WPA Guide to New York City. Envisioned in 1906 by Heinrich Conried, a director of the Metropolitan Opera House, its construction was an attempt to establish a great theatre at New York free of commercialism, one that, broadly speaking, would resemble the Comédie Française of Paris. Thirty founders each subscribed $35,000 at the start, and a building designed to be the permanent home of a repertory company was constructed on Central Park West on the Upper West Side at a cost of three million dollars. Architecturally, it was one of the handsomest structures in the city, designed by the prominent Beaux-Arts architectural firm Carrère and Hastings.

With Winthrop Ames as the only director, the New Theatre Company occupied the building for only two seasons, 1909–10 and 1910–11. Capable of seating 2,300 persons, the New Theatre was opened on November 6, 1909, with impressive ceremonies and apparently under the most favoring auspices, but a serious defect in the acoustics became apparent at once and this was only partly remedied by the installation of a sound-deflecting bell. Several Shakespearean plays were given, by far the most notable presentation being that of The Winter's Tale. On the whole the company did its best ensemble work in some of the modern plays of that time, like Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird and Sister Beatrice, Galsworthy's Strife, and Edward Sheldon's The Nigger starring Annie Russell. A poetic drama of distinction was Josephine Preston Peabody's The Piper. From Europe in 1912 came Judith Gautier and Pierre Loti, producers and supervisors of The Daughter of Heaven. In most cases the stage settings were of very high quality.