14. Olympia Theatre
Oscar Hammerstein’s Indiana Limestone theater building extended hundreds of feet across Longacre Square (now Times Square) between Forty-fifth Street and Forty-fourth Street. Opened in 1895, it was known as The Olympia or Hamemrstein’s Olympia – the same name as Hammerstein’s son. It boasted a music hall called the Lyric, a roof garden, and a concert hall. The Lyric Theatre was decked out in Louis XIV-style decorations in predominately blue and gold hues. The Lyric was only open for three years before a bankrupt Hammerstein sold the Olympia and the theater became Criterion Theatre.
The Criterion was ever-changing in both name and focus. It eventually became one of Broadway‘s first “movie palaces” for movie-musical releases. In 1935, the Olympia was demolished in order to make room for more modern buildings, including a new Criterion Theatre. When buildings are renovated or even demolished, the original structures aren’t always completely destroyed. It’s easier to build a new building on top of one that has some of its foundations intact. As construction workers dismantled the massive Toys ‘R’ Us in Times Square, they discovered the foundation of a theater and an orchestra pit that once stood tall in the stunning Olympia.