Bouwerie Lane Theatre

Bouwerie Lane Theatre
(Bond Street Savings Bank)

The Bond Street facade (2006)
Location Manhattan, New York City, New York
Coordinates 40°43′32″N 73°59′32″W / 40.72556°N 73.99222°W / 40.72556; -73.99222Coordinates: 40°43′32″N 73°59′32″W / 40.72556°N 73.99222°W / 40.72556; -73.99222
Built 1874
Architect Henry Engelbert
Architectural style French Second Empire
NRHP Reference # 80002671
Significant dates
Added to NRHP April 23, 1980
Designated NYCL January 11, 1967

The Bouwerie Lane Theatre is a former bank building which became an Off-Broadway theatre, located at 330 Bowery at Bond Street in Manhattan, New York City. It is located in the NoHo Historic District.

The building's facade on the Bowery (2010)

The cast-iron building, which was constructed from 1873-1874, was designed by Henry Engelbert in the Italianate style for the Atlantic Savings Bank, which became the Bond Street Saving Bank before the building was completed.[1] When the bank failed in 1879, the building was sold to the German Exchange Bank, which served the German immigrant community.[1] Prior to the 1960s, the building was used for the storage of fabrics. Then in 1963, the building was converted into a theater by Honey Waldman, who produced several plays there.[2] From 1974 to 2006, it was the home of the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre.[3]

Among the many plays and musicals that were produced at the theatre, the first was The Immoralist (1963) with Frank Langella, Dames at Sea (1968), Night and Day (2000) by Tom Stoppard, Brecht's The Threepenny Opera (2003), and the Cocteau's final production, Jean Genet's The Maids X 2 (2006).[4][5]

The building was purchased by Adam Gordon in 2007 for conversion into a private mansion with a climbing wall, and the Bowery street front used for retail.[2]

In 1967, the building was designated a New York City landmark,[1] and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[6] The AIA Guide to New York City calls it "One of the most sophisticated cast-iron buildings."[7]

References

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Dolkart, Andrew S. (text); Postal, Matthew A. (text) (2009), Postal, Matthew A., ed., Guide to New York City Landmarks (4th ed.), New York: John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-28963-1, p.62
  2. 1 2 Curbed article, "The Schrager Effect: Noho Readies the Cranes", September 27, 2007 Archived May 5, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "From the Ashes of the Cocteau Repertory, a New Company Is Born", New York Times (March 27, 2007)
  4. ↑ http://theater.nytimes.com/2006/04/05/theater/reviews/05ego.html
  5. ↑ "Bouwerie Lane Theatre" at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
  6. ↑ "Bouwerie Lane Theatre" on the National Register database
  7. ↑ White, Norval & Willensky, Elliot (2000), AIA Guide to New York City (4th ed.), New York: Three Rivers Press, ISBN 978-0-8129-3107-5, p.168
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