Westside Theatre
407 West 43rd Street | Hell's Kitchen | built 1855
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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.
- 1890
Walter Rauschenbusch's Baptist flock builds a Romanesque church
Pastor Walter Rauschenbusch, who arrives in 1885 to lead the struggling Second German Baptist Church, helps raise funds for a new building, including an $8,000 gift from John D. Rockefeller. Architect Henry F. Kilburn designs a Romanesque Revival church at 407 West 43rd Street, its cornerstone laid in 1889 and inscribed "Christus der Eckstein" (Christ is the cornerstone); the finished church is dedicated in March 1890.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1933
The German Baptist congregation dissolves and gives up its church
With membership dwindling, the Second German Baptist Church conveys its West 43rd Street building to the General Missionary Society in April 1933, still carrying a $16,000 mortgage. The remaining members merge into Valley Stream Baptist Church on Long Island, ending more than four decades of Baptist worship at the address.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1968
The former church opens as the discotheque Club Sanctuary
The Second German Baptist Church building had been finished in 1890. Its first non-religious use began in 1968, when it turned into a discotheque named Club Sanctuary.
Source: westsidetheatre.com
- 1972
The former church closes as the nightclub Sanctuary
By the 1960s the deconsecrated church has become a nightclub called Church, then reopens as the dance club Sanctuary. City authorities shut Sanctuary down in 1972 amid complaints about patrons' conduct in the hallways of neighboring buildings.
Source: Daytonian in Manhattan
- 1973
The Chelsea Theatre Group stages David Storey's The Contractor, its first play here
On October 17, 1973, David Storey's The Contractor became the first play the Chelsea Theatre Group produced in the building, which was renamed the Chelsea Westside Theatre. Among the plays that appeared there with Robert Kalfin as producing director were Vanities and Strider.
Source: westsidetheatre.com
- 1976
Vanities transfers to the Chelsea Theatre Center after 13 performances at Playwrights Horizons
Vanities premiered at Playwrights Horizons on January 15, 1976 and ran 13 performances there. It then moved to the Chelsea Theatre Center, the name the Westside Theatre then carried, and opened on March 22, 1976. Kathy Bates, Jane Galloway and Susan Merson were in the cast, and the play went on to one of the longest Off-Broadway runs on record.
“…transferred to the Chelsea Theatre Center (now the Westside Theatre) where it opened on March 22, 1976…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1976
The building reopens as the Westside Theatre
In 1976 the former church is converted into an Off-Broadway venue called the Westside Theatre, housing two separate stages under one roof. A 1991 renovation updates the theaters, which continue to seat roughly 270 and 249 people in the Upstairs and Downstairs spaces.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1981
The Westside Theatre hosts decades of Off-Broadway hits
William Finn's musical "March of the Falsettos" opens at the Westside Theatre in 1981, one of a string of long-running Off-Broadway shows the venue goes on to host, including "The Vagina Monologues" in 1999 and a 2019 revival of "Little Shop of Horrors."
Source: Wikipedia
- 1991
Reno Productions reopens the renovated building as the Westside Theatre
From 1981 to 1990 the theatre had been managed by Raymond L. Gaspard as the Westside Arts Theatre. Following a major renovation, Reno Productions opened it in March 1991 as the Westside Theatre. Its inaugural productions were the Kander and Ebb revue And the World Goes 'Round upstairs and Rick Reynolds's Only the Truth Is Funny downstairs.
Source: westsidetheatre.com
- 1996
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change opens an open-ended run
After stagings at Long Wharf and New Jersey's American Stage Company, the musical revue by Jimmy Roberts and Joe DiPietro opened at the Westside Theatre on August 1, 1996. Producers James Hammerstein, Bernie Kukoff and Jonathan Pollard kept it on an open run. By its first anniversary in August 1997 it had given 418 performances, with Danny Burstein, Jennifer Simard, Robert Roznowski and Melissa Weil in the cast.
Source: playbill.com
- 1999
Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues opens Off-Broadway and cycles through celebrity casts
The Vagina Monologues opened on October 3, 1999, after previews that began September 21. Ensler left the cast in early 2000, and after that trios of well-known actresses took over for short stints; Playbill listed Rosie Perez, Marisa Tomei, Audra McDonald and Calista Flockhart among them. In October 2002 Playbill reported that the show would close at the Westside on January 5, 2003.
Source: v.playbill.com
Further reading
- Westside TheatreWikipedia
- The 1889 2nd German Baptist Church -- 407 West 43rd StreetDaytonian in Manhattan
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