Belasco’s Stuyvesant Theater, Exterior and Interior

Designated 11/4/1987

This theater was designed as Belasco’s ideal theater by George Keister, an important theater architect, in an elegant neo-Georgian style reminiscent of townhouse architecture and specifically intended to suggest the intimate drama presented by Belasco within. As such it represents an early monument in the development of the “Little Theater” movement in New York.

The interior of the Belasco Theater survives today as one of the oldest historic theater interiors in New York City. It was designed for producer-manager-director-playwright David Belasco, one of the most important personalities in the history of the American stage. This theatre served as Belasco’s laboratory for the development of unprecedented staging and lighting techniques that were of enduring significance worldwide. The interior of the theatre has design features associated with residential architecture to evoke a domestic atmosphere, suggestive of the intimate drama presented by Belasco, and it represents an early monument in the development of the “Little Theater” movement in New York.

STATUS Designated Exterior and Interior Landmarks

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