photograph by Byron Company, from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
William Y. Mortimer leased a 50-foot-wide parcel on the west side of Fourth Avenue (later Park Avenue South) between 23rd and 24th Streets in January 1884 to Philip G. Hubert, Charles W. Clinton, and Michael Brennan for 21 years at a yearly rental of $4,000. The trio hired the architectural firm of Hubert & Pirsson to design a theater on the site for the American Theatre Company. Theatrical managers and producers Steele Mackaye, Gustave Frohman, and Franklin Sergeant were the main forces behind the newly formed group.
The three-story structure was completed in 1884 at a cost of $50,000 (about $1.6 million in 2024). In his 1903 A History of the New York Stage, T. Allston Brown mentioned that it was faced in "finished brick, with freestone trimmings." Hubert & Pirsson's somber Romanesque Revival stood in stark contrast with Peter Ponnet Wight's exuberant, Venetian Gothic style Academy of Design next door. The New York Times flatly described the architecture of the Lyceum Theatre as, "nondescript."
But the reserved facade belied the wondrous interiors. Calling the Lyceum "richly appointed," The Sun's Guide of New York noted, "the interior decorations were made by the Tiffany Glass and Decorating Company," and the Memorial History of the City of New-York said the theater "is quite unique in its decorations, which are mainly of artistic colored and jeweled glass." Tiffany Glass & Decorating worked closely with Thomas Alva Edison, a close friend of Steel Mackaye, in the design. It would be the first New York theater to be lit entirely by electricity. "No other theatre in New York resembles the Lyceum," said The Sun's Guide of New York.
There were other innovations, as well. "It is the only theater in the city without a family circle," noted The Memorial History of the City of New-York. Of note was the orchestra "frame or box." When the overture began, the stage curtains opened to reveal the orchestra. At its completion, "the musicians were hoisted on the automatic elevator clear into the flies, where the bottom of the car made the top part of the proscenium frame," explained the article.
Steele Mackaye had always intended that the building would also house an acting school. It was a brilliant scheme, affording him first pick of talented newcomers. On August 3, 1884, The New York Times noted, "Mr. Mackaye's ability in the line of promoting undeveloped dramatic taste is already well understood." On the same day (while the building was still under construction), the Morning Journal reported, "Within a fortnight, the new Lyceum Conservatory will begin operations with its first class of one hundred pupils."
Reporters were given a tour of the theater in March 1885, a month before opening night. The critic from The New York Times was far from pleased. He said that that upon entering, "the stairs right and left are so quiet, with their wood finished in old English style, that one is unprepared for the coming orgy of Oriental decoration."
Admitting that the design of "Mr. Louis C. Tiffany, the decorator, is in the main a pretty one," the critic went on to pan the sumptuous, colorful auditorium, saying in part:
It takes time to adjust one's faculties to the variety of decoration offered...and you hardly know whether you are in Ceylon or Connecticut. One has but to raise the eyes to the great cluster of colored globes lit by electricity, and feel one's self once more in the Mosque of Teef-haneh at Afrasiab, so beautifully iridescent are the soft hues that stream therefrom. They hang like the suspended ostrich eggs in the Tomb of the Prophet. But one is not safely landed in Mecca before the abstracted eye glides unwarily upon a strictly Hindu bit of decoration, and thus in a moment one is carried 1,000 miles from Araby into furthest India. Looking back about the front of the gallery, however, one is quickly restored to our own New-York, for who but Mr. Louis C. Tiffany could have dribbled melted lead so frantically over pieces of parti-colored glass like those blue bull's eyes with electric lights behind them, plastered against the brown satin background? Let us confess, it is a jumble.
The Lyceum Theatre opened on April 6, 1885 with Mackaye's new play Dakolar. (Admission to the 661-seat venue ranged from 75 cents to 2 dollars.) The New York Times critic was as uncomplimentary to the play as he had been to the auditorium's décor. He said it fell far short of what "this public had the right to expect in the first production of the much-trumpeted Lyceum Theatre."
Less than a month later, on May 1, The New York Times reported, "the lines of the Lyceum Theatre do not appear to have been cast in pleasant places, and the creditors of the house are now engaged in looking upon it with rather anxious eyes." Among those creditors was Louis C. Tiffany. "His contract for decorations amounted to $50,000, of which $42,000 is still unpaid," said the article. (The outstanding balance would equal $1.37 million today.) The article said, "It was expected that Mr. Steele Mackaye's play 'Dakolar' would crowd the house nightly. The public, however, has not responded."
Louis C. Tiffany & Co. sued the American Theatre Company in July, quickly followed by a suit by Franklin H. Sargent, one of the founders and the instructor of the Lyceum Theatre School. He claimed $10,000 in unpaid wages.
Actress Helen Dauvray took over management of the theater for two seasons, during which she starred in One of Our Girls, which ran for 200 performances.
Helen Dauvray (seated) and the cast of One of Our Girls in the Lyceum Theatre. from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
On May 3, 1887, Daniel Frohman, brother of Gustav Frohman, one of the original founders, took over. Under Frohman, the Lyceum Theatre became one of New York's foremost venues. In 1892, The Sun's Guide to New York described it as "a richly appointed, carefully arranged house, and a fashionable place of amusement," adding, "The theatre is noted for the rich and tasteful scenic settings, the handsome dresses of the actresses, and the refined character of the plays."
Daniel Frohman's company included stars like E. H. Sothern, Maude Adams and Richard Mansfield. Upon taking over the Lyceum Theatre, he made a change that elated many theater-goers. The Record & Guide reported, "Manager Frohman has made quite a hit in trying to induce the lady patrons of the Lyceum Theatre to remove their bonnets before taking seats that would obstruct the view of those sitting behind them. A good many ladies have complied with the request, and the matter has excited so much discussion in social circles as to make it a very good advertisement for the theatre."
Like One of Our Girls, the play Lord Chumley was a hit. Written by David Belasco (who worked for years with Frohman here) and Henry Churchill de Mille, it starred Maude Adams and E. H. Sothern. On August 21, 1888, the drama critic of The New York Times began his review saying,
It is so nice and refreshing to find a play which can be spoken of in an ecstasy of adjectival gushfulness that I feel inclined to toy with it and gloat over it, like a cat does over a newly caught mouse, before I begin to discuss its merits. Strict consideration for the feelings of others, however, prompts me to restrain myself.
The play suffered a tragedy a few weeks later. Charles B. Bishop played the role of Adam Butterworth in Lord Chumley. Although he was not feeling well on October 8, 1889, he went to the theater as normal. The New York Times reported, "He was in good humor and pleasantly greeted his associates...He was prominent in the first scene of the play, and was ready at the wings waiting for his cue. When it came, he went on gayly, and acted the scene through as brightly and spiritedly as he had ever done."
After exiting the stage, he staggered down the stairs to the stage manager's office and fell to the floor. In less than ten minutes he was dead. The curtain closed mid-act, and a few seconds later E. H. Sothern notified the audience that Bishop was dead and that the play would not continue.
On December 31, 1901, the New-York Tribune reported that Richard Mortimer, son of William Mortimer, had sold the property to William E. Hebberd. Although the Tribune's reporter was assured, "It merely means a new ownership, that's all," the journalist noted, "There have been rumors recently that the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, of New-York, intended to get the property in order to enlarge its holdings in the block bounded by Madison Square, Fourth-ave., Twenty-third, and Twenty-fourth sts."
from the collection of the Museum of the City of New York
Indeed, less than two months later, on February 6, 1902, the newspaper reported, "Title to the Lyceum Theatre property, in Fourth-ave...was recently obtained by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company...It was then announced that this was the Lyceum's last season, at the end of which the building would be torn down."
Demolition of the building began on March 20, 1902. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's new building engulfed the 23rd Street blockfront from Madison Avenue to Fourth Avenue, eradicating a score of structures including Wight's magnificent Academy of Design.
The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company building, seen from Madison Avenue. from the collection of the New York Public Library
Two years later, Metropolitan Life Insurance Company expanded again, filling the rest of the Madison Avenue block with a soaring tower and, in the process, razing another masterful building (one which also had Tiffany interiors), Stanford White's Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church.
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