Hippodrome--New York City 1905-1935

The Hippodrome Theatre stood in New York City from 1905 to 1939, on the site of a what is now a large modern office building known as "The Hippodrome Center", at 1120 Avenue of the Americas, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan. It was called the world's largest theater by its builders.
With J. H. Morgan as architect, the Hippodrome first opened in 1905 with a seating capacity of 5,200, and is still considered as one of the true wonders of theatre architecture. Its stage was 12 times larger than any Broadway "legit" house and capable of holding as many as 1,000 performers at a time, or a full-sized circus with elephants and horses. It also had an 8,000-gallon clear glass water tank that could be raised from below the stage by hydraulic pistons for swimming-and-diving shows.

For a time the Hippodrome was the largest and most successful theater in New York. The Hippodrome featured lavish spectacles complete with circus animals, diving horses, opulent sets, and 500-member choruses. Until the end of World War I, the Hippodrome housed all sorts of spectacles then switched to musical extravaganzas produced by Charles Dillingham, including "Better Times," which ran for more than 400 performances.

When Dillingham left in 1923 to pursue other interests, the Hippodrome was leased to Keith-Albee, which hired Thomas Lamb to turn it into a vaudeville theatre by building a much smaller stage and discarding all of its unique features. The most popular vaudeville artists of the day, including illusionist Harry Houdini, performed at the Hippodrome during its heyday. Others might vanish rabbits, but in 1918, on the brightly-lit stage of the Hippodrome, Houdini made a 10,000-pound elephant disappear. He created a sensation. When Houdini fired a pistol, Jennie vanished from view.

The Hippodrome's huge running costs made it a perennial financial failure, and a series of producers tried and failed to make money from the theatre. It became a location for vaudeville productions in 1923 before being leased for budget opera performances, finally becoming a sports arena.
The building was torn down in 1939, though an office building and parking garage that today stands on the same site claims the name "The Hippodrome Center." Through the 1960s the modern building was the corporate headquarters of the old Charter Communications Inc. media publishing company.

In the 1970s the famous old theater also gave its name to the nearby "Little Hippodrome", a drag and comedy club which was located at 227 East 56th Street, between Second and Third Avenues. The club is famous for hosting the final live New York performances of the legendary Glam rock group, The New York Dolls in March 1975, a month before the group disbanded. The show recorded at that venue appeared later as the group's Red Patent Leather album. Soon after in 1975 that location of the defunct Little Hippodrome club re-opened as The East Side Club, a gay men's social club.

The largest theater in New York City is now Radio City Music Hall.