Booth's Theatre

Booth's Theatre

Photograph of the exterior of Booth's Theatre, viewed from diagonally across the intersection of 23rd Street and Sixth Avenue

Booth's Theatre was a theatre in New York 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 as 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.