Did the Palace Theatre Really Move? How Broadway's Most Famous Vaudeville House Was Lifted 29 Feet

The Palace Theatre raised to its new level inside the TSX Broadway tower under construction in Times Square, Manhattan, May 2022

The Palace Theatre after it was raised to its new level inside the TSX Broadway construction site, May 2022. Photograph by Z22, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Did the Palace Theatre really move?

Yes, straight up. In 2015 the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) approved an application to raise the Palace Theater 29 feet within its footprint, according to CityLand's report of the November 24, 2015 hearing. The point was to slide new levels of retail and lobby space underneath it. The Palace's auditorium is an interior landmark, so the LPC's approval was required. A 2018 Real Estate Weekly article described the plan as the first time in the United States that a theater would be permanently raised off the ground and tucked into a new tower, the $2.5 billion TSX Tower at 1568 Broadway. It said the work would insert four levels, with 75,000 square feet of retail and a new 669-room hotel, under the lifted theater.

The theater was not moved sideways, and the street address in current references is not the one most older sources give. IBDB, the Internet Broadway Database, still lists the Palace at 1564 Broadway. Broadway Direct and Playbill now give the address as 160 West 47th Street. This article uses the 47th Street address for visitors and notes the older one.

How do you raise a landmark theater?

CityLand's account of the 2015 hearing gives the engineer's description. Anthony Mazzo of Urban Foundation Engineering told the LPC the raising would be done "one inch at a time" by a telescopic hydraulic column system pushing the theater up from below with uniform pressure, guided by a rail system at each corner over a span of weeks. He said the intent was to move it "so slowly it doesn't know it's moving." He cited the 1998 lateral relocation of the Empire Theater as a precedent and called that job harder. Elise Quasebarth of Higgins & Quasebarth, the preservation consultant, argued that the work was appropriate because the landmarked interior was already "completely divorced from its historical physical context," since the original building around it had been demolished and a hotel built over and around it.

Not everyone agreed. CityLand reports that the New York Landmarks Conservancy did not object in principle but worried that success depended on "so many moving parts." A preservation architect warned that "theaters are fragile" and largely made of plaster, jute and burlap. The Municipal Art Society's representative worried about the precedent. The commission heard supporting communications from Manhattan Community Board 5, the Times Square Alliance and construction and stage unions, and approved the plan.

Real Estate Weekly, in October 2018, said Severud Associates was the structural engineer for the developers, L&L Holding Company and Maefield Development. The engineers planned to carve out an additional subterranean level into the bedrock and lower the foundation of the 43-story Doubletree hotel above the theater by about 30 feet. It says that hotel was built above the theater in 1990. CityLand says only that the hotel went up in the 1990s, so the decade is the safe statement. Severud's principal, Cawsie Jijina, said the three-year project would let the theater "continue to offer top-flight Broadway shows well into its second century." The Commons photo above shows the theater at its new level in May 2022.

The Palace Theatre building on Seventh Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets in Manhattan, an early twentieth-century photograph — The Palace Theatre building on Seventh Avenue, an early photograph by Wurts Bros. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

Who built the Palace, and why does everyone say "play the Palace"?

The Palace was built in 1912-13 for the West Coast showman Martin Beck, according to the LPC's 1987 designation report. IBDB says Beck founded the Orpheum Circuit and that, "through questionable dealings," he was forced to share the house with the competing Keith-Albee circuit (B.F. Keith and E.F. Albee). The architects were Kirchhoff & Rose, a midwestern theater firm per the LPC, which IBDB spells Kirchoff & Rose. It opened as a vaudeville house on March 24, 1913, per IBDB.

The LPC's report says that if one theater in the district were named the most famous, the privilege "would fall virtually uncontested to the Palace," even though it was designed as a vaudeville house rather than a legitimate stage theater. It says the Palace, combined with an office building, became the center of vaudeville for New York and the nation. Broadway Direct puts the idiom this way: "Playing the Palace" has been the dream of performers since 1913, because for many years an engagement there meant a performer had "made it." Its list of performers includes Ethel Barrymore, Harry Houdini, Will Rogers, Ethel Merman and Judy Garland. Albee, per the LPC, ran his operations from a sixth-floor suite.

The LPC notes that when a larger house, the Roxy, opened on 50th Street, the Palace tried to win back a shrinking audience with an electric piano in the lobby and colored stage lights. By 1930, IBDB says, the Palace was primarily a movie palace, and stayed one through the early 1960s. The LPC adds that the auditorium was renovated in the 1940s, with a rearranged orchestra and the removal of boxes. In 1965 the Nederlanders bought and renovated it and returned it to legitimate use, reopening on January 29, 1966.

The Palace Theatre building seen looking east down 47th Street from Times Square in Manhattan, historic photograph

Looking east down 47th Street from Times Square toward the Palace Theatre building. American Studio photograph, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

What has played there since 1966?

IBDB's production list shows La Cage aux Folles from August 21, 1983 to November 15, 1987, Beauty and the Beast from April 18, 1994 to September 5, 1999, West Side Story from March 19, 2009 to January 2, 2011, Sunset Boulevard from February 9 to June 25, 2017, and SpongeBob SquarePants from December 4, 2017 to September 16, 2018. A seat-plan site says SpongeBob was the last musical at the Palace before the raising. IBDB also lists Beetlejuice from October 8, 2025 to January 3, 2026. The Lost Boys is the current production. Playbill's page gives first previews on March 27, 2026 and the opening on April 26, 2026.

The decorated ceiling and chandelier in the auditorium of the Palace Theatre in Manhattan, October 2025

Inside the Palace Theatre auditorium, October 2025. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

How many seats does the Palace have now?

The sources do not agree, and they were measured at different times. IBDB lists approximately 1,743, which is the older figure. Broadway Direct, the Nederlander Organization's official ticketing and information site, says the Palace has 1,648 seats. The Playbill Lost Boys grosses table lists 1,605 "seats in theatre" for the weeks ending in September 2026. This article cannot say which is current, and the 1,743 figure appears to describe the house before the raising. That is an inference from the dates, not something any source states.

Where can you eat or drink at the Palace Theatre?

Broadway Direct says there is one bar in the main lobby and one on the mezzanine level, selling alcoholic and nonalcoholic drinks and snacks, and that the bars start serving 30 minutes before the performance and at intermission. Broadway.com's venue page says there are bars on all levels, starting service one hour before. The two disagree, so check the official page before the show. Bottled water and beverages with secure tops may go into the auditorium. No outside food or drink is allowed, except where medically necessary. The Palace is a theater with concession bars. This article found no public restaurant inside it, although the TSX Broadway tower around it has retail space.

The Commons photo below shows the lobby bar on a crowded night in October 2025.

A crowded lobby bar at the Palace Theatre in Manhattan during an intermission, October 2025

The lobby bar at the Palace Theatre, October 2025. Photograph by Epicgenius, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0.

Who owns the Palace Theatre today?

Broadway Direct says the Palace is one of the Nederlander Organization's nine Broadway theaters and is co-owned with Stewart F. Lane. IBDB says the same, naming Stewart F. Lane and James L. Nederlander as co-owners. CityLand's 2015 report called the Nederlander Organization the theater's owners and said Maefield Development was implementing the project in cooperation with them. The tower around it, TSX Broadway, is being developed by L&L Holding Company, Maefield Development and Fortress Investment Group, according to 6sqft. This article did not find the legal structure that ties the theater ownership to the tower, so it does not describe it. The auditorium interior is a New York City landmark (LP-1367, designated July 14, 1987). The LPC report designates the interior, not the exterior.

Sources

Visiting the Palace Theatre

Address: 160 West 47th Street, New York, NY 10036 (Broadway Direct and Playbill). IBDB lists 1564 Broadway.
Food and drink: Broadway Direct says no outside food or drink is permitted, and that Nederlander theaters allow it only when medically necessary.
Late seating: Broadway Direct says latecomers are generally held at the back and seated at management's discretion.
Current show: The Lost Boys (Playbill).

Checked against Broadway Direct Palace page. Confirm hours and ticket rules there.

Did the Palace Theatre Really Move? How Broadway's Most Famous Vaudeville House Was Lifted 29 Feet