On New York’s Museum Mile (a stretch along the city's Fifth Avenue chock-full of museums), an iconic 1921 theater lies in relative secrecy. But after a recent refresh and restoration by Katz Architecture , the secret may soon be out.
Located within the El Museo del Barrio complex (Fifth Avenue between 104th and 105th Streets), El Teatro is a former children’s theater filled with fantasy: fairy-tale wall murals and stained glass roundels by the late Hungarian illustrator Willy Pogany, pennant-like valances over entries, and castle-shaped pendants lit from within. Since its Jazz Age opening, the theater has entertained New York City orphans, produced the nation’s first federally funded theater program, and hosted one of the longest runs of an off-off-Broadway show. Now used for lectures, performances, and special events, El Teatro has since seen several layers of paint and even more layers of dust. In time for the art museum’s 50th anniversary, a restoration of its jewel-box theater was nigh.
At El Teatro on Museum Mile, the prolific Hungarian illustrator Willy Pogany created wall murals of popular fairy tales. Here, Little Red Riding Hood is depicted in paint.
“Architecturally, this is the most important space of the museum,” says architect David Katz, whose New York–based firm headed the renovation. Though this is the studio’s first theater restoration, he has made a career of reviving historic properties. “It’s one of the jewels,” he continues, and “as a place for performance, it's critical to El Museo’s community-based mission.”
To make it shine again, the architects restored the whimsical hand-painted murals that wrap the theater (depicting Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, and Jack and the Beanstalk, among other classic tales, some on 30-foot-plus-tall panels); the historic fabrics that make up the curtains and pennants over theater aisle portals; and the stained-glass roundels in the ceiling, backlighting the latter with new LEDs. The theater systems were updated with help from Connecticut-based firm Theatre Projects to bring state-of-the-art light, sound, and environmental comforts to the space. And decorative plasterwork on its proscenium arch, ceiling, and walls was returned to its original paint colors after a meticulous analysis.
The stained glass roundels were also restored and backlit with LEDs.
Historic fabrics, like these pennants over theater portals, were refurbished.
The biggest surprise during the project came when the architects turned to El Museo’s storage unit. Inside, hidden away for nearly 20 years, were a pair of stained glass pendant lights in the shape of fairy-tale houses. Katz’s team had them refurbished by an Italian glass artisan (who also restored the ceiling roundels) and hung them to flank the stage.
As part of its renovation, a pair of stained glass pendants were brought out of storage, where they had been for nearly 20 years, and reinstalled in the theater. A paint analysis helped color-match the plasterwork.
Inaugurated as the Heckscher Theatre, El Teatro opened to produce free shows for audiences of orphans and sick children, supported by the nonprofit Heckscher Foundation for Children. After the Great Depression caused Foundation operations there to become financially unviable, it went on to live many different lives, and to bring the arts to many different audiences. El Museo began operating in the space in 1988 (the art museum and the theater share a lobby), while the off-off-Broadway musical “Mama, I Want to Sing!” was still showing nightly—its run began in 1983 and ended in 1991, one of the longest of any off-off-Broadway show. Today, community groups and theater companies still use the space, says Luis Casiano, technical director at Katz Architecture. Now they can make their art in a cutting-edge, and newly polished, version of their iconic venue.
“Before, the space had a density and you were aware of the texture,” sums Katz. “Now, after its refinement and delineation, it’s the drama that you feel."