Eugene De Rosa

Eugene L. De Rosa (1894 – c. 1945) was an Italian American architect. He worked in New York City and specialized in the design of theatres.

De Rosa's business flourished from 1918 to 1929 and was at its height during the Roaring Twenties, but it was largely destroyed by the Great Depression. During the 1930s he spent some years in London and settled for a while in Naples. Toward the end of World War II he was reported to be back in New York and beginning to work on post-war theatre projects, just before his death.

De Rosa was born in Calabria, in the far south of mainland Italy, in 1894. While he was still a small child his parents emigrated to the United States, arriving through Ellis Island and settling in New York City, where they were living by 1898. De Rosa had four brothers, Felix, Jerry, Vincent, and John, and also a sister, Sylvia. His brother Felix also became an architect.

By 1918 De Rosa was practising as an architect, quickly choosing to specialize in theatre design. An early project was his Vanderbilt Theatre, New York (1918). By 1919 he was in a partnership called "De Rosa & Pereira", and that year he represented several clients in appeals against decisions of the superintendent of buildings of the City of New York.

During the 1920s De Rosa obtained many more commissions for new theatres. The great driving force during his Roaring Twenties career was "the phenomenal growth in popularity of motion pictures", and his early work included the Times Square (1920), the Apollo on 42nd Street (1920), and Klaw (1921) Theatres. One important design for a site on Hyatt Street in St. George, Staten Island, provided not just a grand new theatre but also stores and offices.

De Rosa's business was largely destroyed by the Great Depression of the 1930s, during which he took the opportunity to travel overseas. He spent some years in London and settled for a while in Naples, where in 1935 he was reported to be "wonderfully helpful" to American and English visitors. His brother Felix De Rosa, also an architect, sold insurance during the Depression.

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