Saint Thomas Choir School
202 West 58th Street | Midtown | built 1986
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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.
- 1926
Playwright John Golden lays out a Spanish-style theater on the future choir school lot
On the West 58th Street lot where the choir school stands today, the actor-turned-playwright John Golden planned a theater under his own name in 1926. Harrison G. Wiseman was the architect responsible for the main designs. Behind a plain facade, the 885-seat house had an olive-and-gold auditorium with wrought-iron chandeliers and a curtain showing a Spanish galleon.
Source: cinematreasures.org
- 1935
John Cort takes over the Depression-struck theater and renames it Cort's 58th Street
After almost ten years of legitimate theater, John Golden had to sell his house on West 58th Street because of the Depression. John Cort took it over in 1935 and renamed it Cort's 58th Street Theatre, where he staged mostly comedies. Within a year Cort gave it up, and the building began showing foreign films under the name Filmarte, soon followed by Fine Arts. It stood on the lot later taken by the choir school.
Source: cinematreasures.org
- 1943
The Rock Church turns the former theater into a house of worship
In 1942 the building, then called the Concert Theatre, staged its first live act in seven years, a comedy that ran very briefly. A year later it became a house of worship known as the Rock Church, and its seating was raised to more than 1,000. The church was gone by 1946, when the building took back the name Cort's 58th Street Theatre and was leased to the ABC network as a radio studio.
Source: cinematreasures.org
- 1955
ABC returns and turns the old theater into a television studio
After the late-1940s stretch as a foreign-film house called the Elysee Theatre, the building drew the ABC network back in 1955. The network used it as a television studio until the building shut in 1985. Demolition followed a few months later, which cleared the lot for the new choir school.
Source: cinematreasures.org
- 1959
ABC tapes the crossword game show Across the Board at the Elysee Theatre
From June 1 to October 9, 1959, ABC aired Across the Board on weekdays at noon, a crossword game hosted by Ted Brown and directed by Hal Tulchin. Tulchin was an expert in videotape, so the show was pre-recorded at the Elysee Theatre, the earlier building on the lot where the choir school now stands, instead of airing live. Tapings allowed no retakes and little editing, which at the time meant working with a microscope. Critics disliked it, and the run lasted about four months.
“Tapings took place at the Elysee Theatre on West 58th Street in Manhattan, New York City.”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1987
Fisher Brothers builds a new brick choir school where the Elysee Theater stood
In 1985 the vestry of Saint Thomas Church transferred its old school land and building to the developer Fisher Brothers, which in return built a new school at 202 West 58th Street. The project required demolishing the Elysee Theater. Buttrick White & Burtis designed the $18 million, 55,000-square-foot building, which opened in September 1987. Red brick covers the steel frame, a three-story limestone window marks the lower facade, and a small chapel sits under the gabled roof.
“The new building opened in September 1987. Designed by the architecture firm Buttrick White & Burtis, the $18 million…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 2006
The choir school sells 12,000 square feet of air rights to Extell
In November 2006 Extell, the developer, purchased air rights covering 12,000 square feet from the Saint Thomas Choir School, which is at 202 West 58th Street. It was one of several purchases in 2006 and 2007 that Extell assembled for its Central Park Tower project on West 57th Street. Taken together, the rights allowed a building with up to 563,000 square feet of floor area.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2024
Saint Thomas Church hands the school's academics to the Professional Children's School
In March 2024 Saint Thomas Church said that rising costs would force it to stop operating the school unless it built up $50 million in endowment funds. Tuition brought in only about $250,000 of a $4 million budget, and roughly 21 of the 28 students received financial aid. In November the church announced that, from 2025, the Professional Children's School would run the academic program, while the church would keep providing music and religious instruction.
Source: Wikipedia
Further reading
- Saint Thomas Choir SchoolWikipedia
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