One Astor Plaza (1515 Broadway)
1515 Broadway | also 200 West 45th Street, 1 Astor Plaza | Times Square | built 1970
Open on the map14 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1904
The Hotel Astor opens on this block as a gamble on Longacre Square
On September 9, 1904, the eleven-story Hotel Astor opened on the lot where the tower now stands, in a district that had long seemed too far west for a luxury hotel. Restaurateur William C. Muschenheim had dreamed up the project on Astor family land, with backing from William Waldorf, betting on a new subway station and a wave of theaters. A roof garden with wide views of the city followed a year later. This entry concerns the earlier hotel on the site.
Source: The Bowery Boys
- 1909
Musicians' club honors conductor Gustav Mahler with a dinner at the Hotel Astor
In 1909 the Bohemians, a club of New York musicians, gave a reception and dinner for Gustav Mahler, then conducting at the Metropolitan Opera, in the Hotel Astor that stood on this block. Mahler came with his wife Alma, and Marcella Sembrich is also listed among those present. The Mahler Foundation records the evening. This entry concerns the earlier hotel on the site.
Source: mahlerfoundation.org
- 1947
A stuntman climbs the outside of the Hotel Astor to promote a rodeo
In 1947 the stuntman John Ciampa scaled the exterior of the Hotel Astor as a publicity stunt for the Sunbrock Rodeo and Thrill Circus. The hotel itself was then advertising "1000 rooms, 1000 baths" on its postcards and calling itself the Crossroads of the World. The climb took place on the block where One Astor Plaza now stands. This entry concerns the earlier hotel on the site.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1966
Sam Minskoff and Sons buy the Hotel Astor site for $10.5 million to put up an office tower
The Hotel Astor had stood here since 1904 when the Minskoffs paid $10.5 million in January 1966 for it and the eastern end of Shubert Alley. The hotel closed on June 30, 1966, and its furnishings were sold off that October. Demolition began in January 1967 but dragged into February 1968 because the hotel's two-foot-thick walls and heavy steel frame resisted the wreckers.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1967
Mayor Lindsay presses the Minskoffs to add a Broadway theater, and a zoning bonus follows
The first plans for the tower had no theater, but a City Planning Commission member's tip to the Urban Design Group brought the matter to Mayor John Lindsay, a Broadway fan, who persuaded the Minskoffs to include one. In October 1967 the City Planning Commission proposed the Special Theater District amendment, which rewarded office developers for building theaters. The Minskoffs could add 125,000 square feet of space in exchange for a Broadway house, the first all-new one since the Mark Hellinger of 1930.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1968
Excavation begins with dynamite blasts scheduled around Shubert matinees
Mayor John Lindsay attended the groundbreaking for the tower on October 10, 1968, one of 23 big office projects underway in the city. Crews drilled holes up to ten feet deep, packed them with dynamite and covered each with a blasting mat before detonating. Under an agreement with the Shubert Organization, no blasts went off during matinee performances at the Shubert Theatre and other neighboring houses.
“…the blasts did not occur when there were matinee performances at the Shubert Theatre and other nearby theaters…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1972
A window-washing scaffold falls from the new tower, killing two workers
In March 1972, shortly after the tower was finished, a window-washing scaffold dropped from the facade and two workers died. The building's glass skin had already caused alarm: panes fell twice in November 1970 while the lower stories were being clad, and on November 29 a worker was hurt when panes came down in a heavy wind. The city's acting buildings commissioner investigated the 1970 falls but found no clear cause.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1973
The Minskoff Theatre opens on the third floor of the tower
On March 13, 1973, the Minskoff Theatre had its official opening, a result of the zoning deal that required a Broadway house in the building. Albert Selden, who had agreed to lease it, insisted on a modern technical system that added about $400,000 to the cost. A cinema in the basement, which Loews opened as the Loews Astor Plaza in June 1974, later became an event venue.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1976
The W. T. Grant name comes off the tower after the retailer goes bankrupt
In December 1970 the W. T. Grant chain leased 400,000 square feet, including the 40th through 53rd floors, in return for having the tower called the W. T. Grant Building, with its name in large letters on top. The company went bankrupt by late 1975 and left the building altogether, and its signs were taken down in March 1976. About 330,000 square feet, roughly a quarter of the tower, was suddenly vacant.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1997
MTV opens its Times Square studios on the second floor of the Viacom-filled tower
Viacom moved into the building in 1990, and after its acquisition of Paramount Communications, Paramount relocated here from 15 Columbus Circle. Viacom came to occupy 25 floors, which housed Nickelodeon and MTV. In September 1997 MTV opened studios on the second floor following an $8 million renovation, one of several media companies then building a presence in Times Square.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1998
MTV's Total Request Live debuts in a glass studio above Times Square
MTV's Total Request Live went on the air on September 14, 1998, from a glass-box studio at 1515 Broadway, with Carson Daly hosting a daily countdown of fan-voted videos. At first there was no studio audience and no crowd outside. Within months it had become after-school viewing for teenagers, and when the Backstreet Boys or 'N Sync stopped by, police had to close Times Square to traffic.
Source: billboard.com
- 2001
Mariah Carey surprises TRL fans by wheeling an ice cream cart into the studio
In July 2001 Mariah Carey turned up unannounced at Total Request Live and pushed an ice cream cart into MTV's Times Square studio. She greeted audience members, got onstage, waved to the crowd outside, pulled off an oversized T-shirt and traded awkward banter with host Carson Daly. A producer that day recalled that she had already been visiting often to promote her music, so the cart was a way to make this appearance feel different.
Source: theringer.com
- 2010
A car bomb left beside the Minskoff Theatre entrance fails to explode
On Saturday evening, May 1, 2010, a dark blue 1993 Nissan Pathfinder entered Times Square at about 6:28 p.m. and was left unoccupied, its engine running, beside the Minskoff Theatre entrance at the eastern corner of 1 Astor Plaza, where The Lion King was playing. Street vendors noticed smoke and the sound of firecrackers going off inside and alerted mounted police, who cleared the area from 43rd to 49th Street. The bomb ignited but did not explode, and it was disarmed. Faisal Shahzad was arrested two days later.
“The vehicle was left, unoccupied, on a tourist-crowded block at the eastern corner of 1 Astor Plaza near the entrance to the Minskoff Theatre…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2025
A state advisory committee votes against Caesars' proposed casino resort at 1515 Broadway
After New York announced three downstate casino licenses, SL Green and Caesars Entertainment proposed a casino hotel with 992 rooms in the tower, backed by Roc Nation. The Broadway League opposed it and Actors' Equity supported it. On September 17, 2025, a state-appointed community advisory committee voted against, and the licenses went to sites in Queens and the Bronx. Paramount, the building's main tenant, merged with Skydance that year.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- One Astor PlazaWikipedia
Nearby
- Booth Theatre222 West 45th Street | 14 entries
- Shubert Theatre225 West 44th Street | 14 entries
- Former New York Times Building229 West 43rd Street | 15 entries
- New York Marriott Marquis1535 Broadway | 8 entries
- Paramount Building1501 Broadway | 14 entries
- Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (Plymouth Theatre)236 West 45th Street | 14 entries