Palace Theatre at TSX Broadway
TSX Broadway is home to a 470-foot-tall mixed-use tower located in the heart of Times Square. The 550,000-square-foot tower occupies 1568 Broadway, and includes commercial, hotel, and performative spaces, as well as Kirchoff & Rose’s 108-year-old Palace Theatre.
The Palace Theatre is one of the earliest surviving theatres in the Times Square district. It was constructed between 1912 and 1913 in the Beaux Arts style by the renowned Midwestern theatre architects Kirchoff & Rose. Examples of their other works include The Palace-Hippodrome (1915) and The Riverside Theatre (1929) in Milwaukee, The Princess Theatre in Chicago (1909), and The Hennepin (Orpheum) Theatre in Minneapolis (1921). West-coast entrepreneur Martin Beck commissioned the structure to include both a vaudeville venue at street level with an office building above. It quickly became the center of vaudeville in the early 20th century, and cemented the Broadway theatre district itself as a New York City and national theatrical hub. The theatre was converted from a vaudeville stage into a full Broadway theatre in 1966. The auditorium’s interior was designated a New York City Landmark in 1987.
The TSX Broadway building was made possible by raising the landmarked theater some 30 feet while completing a full restoration of its interior and exterior. This show-stopper is an innovative project that will support New York City’s economic and cultural appeal as an iconic destination for theater lovers around the world.
Demolition & Pre-Lift Preservation
Our team began the initial selective demolition and salvage work of the theater interior in 2018, which included taking dozens of rubber molds of existing ornamental plaster. This work was undertaken with great care, and aimed to save as much historic fabric as possible, while creating the necessary space for other trades to upgrade building systems throughout. At the same time, and in collaboration with the project design team, interior plaster was carefully and methodically surveyed to develop comprehensive stabilization methods that would insure the preservation of interior decorative elements original to the theater.
Post Lift Ornamental Plaster & Decorative Finishes
Once the historic theater had been lifted to its final location, we began the monumental task of restoring the theater’s interior finishes. While continuing to thoroughly stabilize the historic plaster, our team also casted extensive new ornament where the original was not salvageable. At the same time, EverGreene plasterers restored hundreds of square feet of historic three coat plaster that was previously damaged or removed for the required building systems upgrades. Upon completion of this comprehensive plaster restoration scope, our decorative painters went to work transforming the interior finishes, bringing PBDW’s stunning design into reality.
