Lyric Theatre

The Lyric Theatre was a prominent Broadway theatre built in 1903 in Manhattan, New York City in the 42nd Street Theater District. It was one of the few New York houses having two formal entrances, at 213 West 42nd Street and 214-26 West 43rd Street. In 1934, it was converted into a movie theatre which it remained until closing in 1992. In 1996, its interior was demolished and the space was combined with that of the former Apollo Theatre to create the Ford Center, which has since taken the Lyric Theatre name. Both the 42nd and 43rd Street facades of the original Lyric were preserved and today form the front and back entrances of the modern Lyric Theatre.HistoryThe theatre was originally built by developer Eugene C. Potter as a home for composer Reginald De Koven's American School of Opera. However, the school went bankrupt before construction was finished, and Potter leased the theatre and its offices to the Shubert brothers. It was designed by architect Victor Hugo Koehler, and opened on October 12, 1903, with Richard Mansfield's production of Old HeidelbergThe Lyric originally had approximately 1,350 seats and two balconies. It had eighteen box seats, nine on each side of the auditorium. These were considered far too many for a commercial theatre of its size, and six, the top row of each side, were removed soon after the Lyric opened.