Times Square Theater

The Times Square Theater is a former Broadway and movie theater at 217 West 42nd Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, near Times Square. Built in 1920, it was designed by Eugene De Rosa and developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn. The building, which is no longer an active theater, is owned by the city and state governments of New York and leased to New 42nd Street.

The Times Square Theater was designed simultaneously with the now-demolished Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west. The theaters shared a symmetrical facade on 42nd Street, which is made of limestone and contains a central colonnade. The Times Square Theater took up most of the facade, though the western section was occupied by the Apollo Theatre's entrance. Inside, the Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped auditorium that could seat 1,155 people. The auditorium was designed in a silver, green, and black color scheme and had a shallow balcony, box seats, and murals. As part of a renovation proposed in 2018, the theater building will be substantially expanded with a glass annex, the original facade will be raised, and some of the interior elements will be preserved.

The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Edgar Selwyn's play The Mirage. The theater mostly hosted legitimate shows in its first decade, but it briefly screened films in 1926 and 1928. Notable shows included The Front Page (1928), Strike Up the Band (1930), and Private Lives (1931). The theater staged its last show in 1933, and the theater became a cinema the next year. The Brandt family operated the Times Square for the next five decades, showing westerns and action films. There were several proposals to redevelop theaters along 42nd Street in the 1980s. New 42nd Street took over the Times Square and several neighboring theaters in 1990, but the theater building was difficult to lease out because of its lack of a rear entrance. Among the unsuccessful bids were those by MTV, Marvel Mania, Livent, Ecko Unltd., and a 4D theater company. Stillman Development International leased the building in 2017 and hired Beyer Blinder Belle to renovate it.

## Site

The Times Square Theater is at 215 West 42nd Street, on the northern sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Seventh Avenue, at the southern end of Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building occupies a nearly square land lot covering 10,401 sq ft (966.3 m2), with a frontage of 105 ft (32 m) on 42nd Street and a depth of 100.5 ft (30.6 m). The theater is surrounded to the east and north by the Lyric Theatre. It also shares the block with the Hotel Carter building and the American Airlines Theatre to the west, as well as the New Victory Theater and 3 Times Square to the east. Other nearby buildings include 255 West 43rd Street, the St. James Theatre, the Hayes Theater to the northwest; 229 West 43rd Street and 1501 Broadway to the north; 5 Times Square and the New Amsterdam Theatre to the southeast; and the Candler Building to the south.

The surrounding area is part of Manhattan's Theater District and contains many Broadway theaters. In the first two decades of the 20th century, eleven venues for Legitimate theatre were built within one block of West 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. The New Amsterdam, Harris, Liberty, Eltinge, and Lew Fields theaters occupied the south side of the street. The original Lyric and Apollo theaters (combined into the current Lyric Theatre), as well as the Times Square, Victory, Selwyn (now American Airlines), and Victoria theaters, occupied the north side. These venues were mostly converted to movie theaters by the 1930s, and many of them had been relegated to showing pornography by the 1970s.

## Design

The Times Square Theater, along with the Apollo Theatre immediately to the north and west, was developed by brothers Edgar and Archibald Selwyn in 1920. Both theaters were built simultaneously and designed by Eugene De Rosa. Architectural Plastering Co. performed the theater's exterior sgraffito work, while L. S. Fischl's Sons was the interior decorator.

### Facade

The theater's original facade, shared with the former Apollo Theatre, is made of limestone and is symmetrical. The layout is similar to that of the still-extant Music Box Theatre. The westernmost section served as an entrance to the Apollo Theatre, whose auditorium was originally on 43rd Street. There was a marquee overhanging the entrance to the Apollo. Above that was a vertical sign advertising the two theaters. The Apollo's name was placed on the western face of the sign, while the Times Square's name was placed on the eastern face. In addition, there were entrances to the Times Square Theater to the east, separated by rusticated limestone piers. The two theaters' entrances were otherwise identical in design.

At the second floor is a colonnade of six columns between a pair of outer bays. The New York Times described the columns as being in the Doric order. There were originally seven wrought-iron screens, one between each set of columns. The auditorium facade is slightly recessed behind the colonnade, creating a gallery. The outermost bays in the second floor contained sash window panes, flanked by pilasters that support a round arch. The pilasters in the corners of the arches were carved. A cornice ran above the facade. Unlike the four neighboring theaters, the Times Square Theater did not have any access from 43rd Street. Instead, its auditorium and stage house were both on 42nd Street. This allowed the auditorium to be positioned parallel to the street, facing eastward.

As of 2018, Beyer Blinder Belle is planning to substantially reconfigure the Times Square Theater building. The proposed renovation includes increasing the building's height to six stories, with its roof 138 ft (42 m) high. Four stories will be built above the existing building. The existing facade will be raised by 5 ft (1.5 m) to accommodate higher ceilings on the ground floor. The second story will have a glass enclosure in front of the colonnade, allowing passersby to view the former theater's interior. The enclosure, measuring 23 ft (7.0 m) tall, will partially cantilever above the sidewalk on 42nd Street. LED signs are also planned to be installed on the building's exterior. An open-air restaurant will also be placed on the roof.

### Interior

#### Original theater

The Times Square Theater had a fan-shaped layout. A contemporary account said the theater could accommodate 1,127 people; meanwhile, The Broadway League and Playbill both cite a capacity of 1,055, and theater historian Mary C. Henderson gives a figure of 1,035. The interior was originally decorated in the Empire style with some Adam style ornamentation. The original color scheme was silver and green against a black background. In later years, the green decorations faded to gray.

The theater had two levels of seating: a ground-floor orchestra level, as well as a balcony with a slightly higher seating capacity. The first four rows of the orchestra were designed with armchairs instead of typical theater seats. At balcony level was a crossover aisle with several entrances, reducing the distance that patrons had to climb compared to in older theaters. Near the front of the auditorium, on either side of the balcony level, was a wall section with two box seats. Each wall section had black velvet curtains and was topped by a plaster half-dome. The theater contained an "air cushion" facing 42nd Street to the south, which dampened noise from outdoors. On either side of the auditorium were emergency exits leading to passageways; the New-York Tribune said these were capable of emptying the theater "in a matter of seconds". The ceiling had a dome measuring 35 ft (11 m) wide.

A black velvet curtain separated the audience from the stage, which was 40 ft (12 m) wide. A grand staircase connected the orchestra and balcony levels. There was also a women's lounge and smoking room on balcony level, as well as a men's lounge in the basement. The men's lounge was decorated in the Tudor style and contained wooden paneling. To the west of the Times Square's auditorium was the Apollo's entrance, which consisted of a corridor with paneled walls and several types of marble. The old Apollo entrance from 42nd Street, with bas-relief sculptures and black-and-white marble decorations, was retained when the current Lyric Theatre was built in 1998. To the east of the auditorium is the lobby from the original Lyric Theatre.

#### Proposed conversion

The building is proposed to be converted into over 52,000 sq ft (4,800 m2) of mixed-use space as of 2019. Most of the building, about 34,000 sq ft (3,200 m2), is planned to be used as storefronts. The third and fourth stories are both planned to have double-height ceilings, as well as many of the historical features relocated from the auditorium. Both stories are to have outdoor terraces. A spiral staircase would connect the second through fourth floors, and the dome would be reinstalled above the staircase.

## Use as theater

### Development

Times Square became the epicenter for large-scale theater productions between 1900 and the Great Depression. Manhattan's theater district had begun to shift from Union Square and Madison Square during the first decade of the 20th century. From 1901 to 1920, forty-three theaters were built around Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. The Selwyn brothers, developed several Broadway theaters on 42nd Street. Before the Times Square Theater was developed, the brothers operated the Harris and Selwyn (now American Airlines) theaters. The Selwyn Theatre had opened on an adjacent site in 1918. Even before that theater was completed, the Selwyn brothers had asked their partner Crosby Gaige to search for sites where they could build additional theaters. The brothers bought two sites just east of the Selwyn Theatre: a 105-foot-wide (32 m) plot on 42nd Street, which contained George Sturges's unprofitable Bryant Theatre, as well as a 100-foot-wide (30 m) plot on 43rd Street, which was vacant.

As construction proceeded on the Selwyn Theatre in September 1917, the Selwyn brothers announced two additional theaters. Originally, the two theaters were to be named after actress Margaret Illington and producer Margaret Mayo. The following February, the Shubert family acquired a partial interest in the three theaters that the Selwyns were constructing. By this time, the planned Illington Theatre was to be known as the Times Square Theater. The Selwyn brothers leased the eastern site from Sperry and Hutchinson Co. in July 1918, after the plot had already been excavated. In May 1919, the New York City Department of Buildings approved the Selwyn brothers' plans for a 1,100-seat theater on 42nd Street and a 1,200-seat theater on 43rd Street. The O'Day Construction Company was hired to erect both theaters. The Selwyn brothers intended to use the two theaters exclusively for their own productions.

### Legitimate use

#### Selwyn years

The Times Square opened on September 30, 1920, with Florence Reed starring in Edgar Selwyn's play The Mirage. The production was a relative hit, lasting for 192 performances through March 1921. During that play's run, G.K. Chesterton spoke on the topic "Shall We Abolish the Inevitable?" at the theater. This was followed by the musical comedy The Right Girl, as well as the mhort-lived usical revue The Broadway Whirl. The plays The Demi-Virgin, Honors Are Even, and Love Dreams had short runs at the Times Square in late 1921. That November, the Clemence Dane play A Bill of Divorcement moved from George M. Cohan's Theatre to the Times Square; it was one of the first hits that featured actress Katharine Cornell. The theater also hosted recitals by actress Ruth Draper, who continued her performances there for several years. In 1922, the Times Square hosted plays such as The Charlatan, as well as The Exciters with Tallulah Bankhead.

The Fool, by Channing Pollock, opened in October 1922 and ran for over 200 performances through the next year. As an experiment, the Selwyn brothers brought over several visiting companies in mid-1923 to perform The Fool in place of the usual actors. Each company performed for three days before being performing the production at other theaters. The play Helen of Troy, New York, transferred from the Selwyn Theatre in October 1923; this was followed in December by Pelléas and Mélisande with Jane Cowl, which flopped after 13 performances. During early 1924, André Charlot presented his eponymous musical revue, featuring Gertrude Lawrence, Beatrice Lillie, and Jack Buchanan. Charlot's revue transferred to the Selwyn Theatre in April 1924, swapping houses with the musical Battling Buttler. The theater also hosted a dance recital by Albertina Rasch in May 1924, though the Sabbath Committee ruled that the recital could not be staged on Sundays. That September, the theater hosted Jerome Kern and Howard Dietz's musical Dear Sir, featuring Oscar Shaw and Walter Catlett. It was followed in November by Clifford Grey, Clare Kummer, and Sigmund Romberg's musical Annie Dear, which featured Billie Burke.

#### Decline

The Selwyn brothers dissolved their firm in 1925. The same year, the theater hosted the play Mismates, the namesake of the film Mismates. The musical Kosher Kitty Kelly also ran for 166 total performances at the Times Square Theater and Daly's 63rd Street Theatre, in spite of negative critical reception. Pollock's play The Enemy opened in late 1925 and ran for 202 performances. The Times Square Theater then showed a variety of films in early 1926, including The Volga Boatman and a double feature of Silence and The Prince of Pilsen. The theater's next legitimate show was Love 'Em and Leave 'Em, which relocated from the Apollo in May 1926.

The Anita Loos play Gentlemen Prefer Blondes opened in September 1926 and ran for 199 total performances across two theaters. During the play's run, the theater also hosted a speech by explorer Richard E. Byrd, a documentary presented by aviator Alan Cobham, and a ballet show. After Blondes relocated from the Times Square in March 1927, A. H. Woods planned to move his production of the play Crime into the theater. Instead, the Times Square screened silent films for the 1927–1928 season. The silent film Sunrise opened at the Times Square in September 1927, and the theater screened the film Dawn in May 1928. Although other theaters on 42nd Street were already struggling to book long-running shows by the late 1920s, the Times Square was still able to secure some hits. Jed Harris leased the theater in mid-1928 and presented the original Broadway production of Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur's comedy The Front Page, which opened in August 1928. The Front Page ran for 276 performances through April 1929.

Several shows had short runs in 1929, including The Middle Watch and Other Men's Wives. The next hit was George and Ira Gershwin's musical Strike Up the Band, which opened at the theater in January 1930 and ran for 191 performances over the next five months. At the onset of the Great Depression, many Broadway theaters were impacted by declining attendance, leading to many flops. The 1930–1931 season alone had six shows, including a revival of The Merchant of Venice. The season ended with Noël Coward's Private Lives, starring Coward and Gertrude Lawrence, which lasted 256 performances. In the 1931–1932 season, four successive plays closed within one month. The 1932–1933 season, with three shows, was the Times Square's final season as a live venue. The season's shows included Clear All Wires!, Foolscap, and Forsaking All Others. The play Angel, with Lenore Ulric, was supposed to have opened at the Times Square in June 1933 but never did so.

### Movies

The theater remained dark for the 1933–1934 season, even though the play Ragged Army had been planned to open there in February 1934. The theater's owner Burgwyn Realty Corp. leased the theater to the Brandt family for use as a cinema in May 1934. The Brandts planned to operate the theater under a grindhouse format, with films running continuously. This was part of a decline in the Broadway theater industry in the mid-20th century; from 1931 to 1950, the number of legitimate theaters decreased from 68 to 30. The lease originally ran for five years. The following year, Burgwyn lost the theater in a foreclosure proceeding. The Times Square and Apollo theaters were auctioned off; Timap Inc. acquired them in June 1935 for \$110,000 and assumed responsibility for the existing \$800,000 mortgage. The proscenium arch was infilled in 1939 when the former stage house was converted to a haberdashery, since the theater no longer needed these facilities after its conversion into a cinema.

By the mid-1940s, the ten theaters along 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues were all showing movies; this led Variety to call the block the "biggest movie center of the world". The Brandts owned seven of these theaters, while the Cinema circuit operated the other three. The Brandt theaters included the Selwyn, Apollo, Times Square, Lyric, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street, as well as the Eltinge and Liberty theaters on the south side. The Times Square Theater showed action films and Westerns, and the Brandt changed the bill three times a week. Several producers offered to stage legitimate productions in the Brandt theaters, but none of the offers were successful. William Brandt indicated in 1946 that he might replace the theaters on the north side of 42nd Street with a skyscraper. By then, there was a shortage of new films in the theaters along 42nd Street, which led to decreased attendance.

William Brandt said in 1953 that any of his 42nd Street theaters could be converted to a legitimate house within 24 hours' notice, but producers did not take up his offer. By the late 1950s, the Times Square was classified as a "western and action outlet", displaying films that related to that genre. Tickets cost 25 to 65 cents apiece, the cheapest admission scale for any theater on 42nd Street. The Times Square and the other 42nd Street theaters operated from 8 a.m. to 3 a.m., with three shifts of workers. The ten theaters on the block attracted about five million visitors a year between them.

The 42nd Street Company was established in 1961 to operate the Brandts' seven theaters on 42nd Street. By the early 1960s, the surrounding block had decayed, but many of the old theater buildings from the block's heyday remained, including the Times Square. Martin Levine and Richard Brandt took over the 42nd Street Company in 1972. The Times Square still operated as an action house. The other six theaters showed a variety of genres, though Levine said none of the company's 42nd Street theaters showed hardcore porn. The Brandts' theaters had a combined annual gross of about \$2 million and operated nearly the entire day. However, the area was in decline; the Brandts' theaters only had three million visitors by 1977, about half of the number in 1963. The area had also become dangerous and rundown as well. Patrons were fatally shot in separate incidents in 1977 and 1980. The Brandts' movie theaters on 42nd Street continued to operate through the mid-1980s, at which point the Times Square was showing "obscure horror/action triple-bills".

## Redevelopment

The 42nd Street Development Corporation had been formed in 1976 to discuss plans for redeveloping Times Square. The same year, the City University of New York's Graduate Center hosted an exhibition with photographs of the Times Square Theatre and other theaters to advocate for the area's restoration. Another plan, in 1978, called for restoring the Selwyn, Apollo, and Harris for opera and dance, rather than for theatrical purposes. Other nearby buildings, including possibly the Times Square Theater, would have been razed to create a park.

### Preservation attempts

Another plan, called the City at 42nd Street, was announced in December 1979 as part of a proposal to restore West 42nd Street around Times Square. Under the plan, the Times Square Theatre would have been preserved, and some of the other theaters would have been modified. Mayor Ed Koch wavered in his support of the plan, criticizing it as a "Disneyland on 42nd Street". Subsequently, Hugh Hardy conducted a report on 42nd Street's theaters in 1980. His report, in conjunction with a movement opposing the demolition of the nearby Helen Hayes and Morosco theaters, motivated the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to survey fifty of Midtown Manhattan's extant theaters in the early 1980s.

The LPC started to consider protecting theaters, including the Times Square Theater, as landmarks in 1982, with discussions continuing over the next several years. While the LPC granted landmark status to many Broadway theaters starting in 1987, it deferred decisions on the exterior and interior of the Times Square Theater. Further discussion of the landmark designations was delayed for several decades. In late 2015, the LPC hosted public hearings on whether to designate the Times Square and six other theaters as landmarks. The LPC rejected the designations in February 2016, as the theaters were already subject to historic-preservation regulations set by the state government.

### Early redevelopment proposals

The Urban Development Corporation (UDC), an agency of the New York state government, then proposed redeveloping the area around a portion of West 42nd Street in 1981. The plan centered around four towers that were to be built at 42nd Street's intersections with Broadway and Seventh Avenue, developed by Park Tower Realty and the Prudential Insurance Company of America. The Brandt family planned to submit a bid to redevelop some of the theaters they owned on 42nd Street. In June 1982, the Brandts' five theaters on the north side of 42nd Street, including the Times Square, were added to the redevelopment plan. In August 1984, the UDC granted Jujamcyn Theaters the right to operate the Selwyn, Apollo, and Lyric theaters; as part of the same project, the Times Square Theater would have become retail space. In response, Brandt and Cine Theater Corp. sued the UDC, claiming that the moves shut out independent theatrical operators. Michael J. Lazar would have renovated the four theaters for Jujamcyn, but the city and state removed him from the project in 1986 following a parking scandal. The Brandts also leased all their movie theaters on 42nd Street, including the Times Square, to the Cine 42nd Street Corporation in 1986.

From 1987 to 1989, Park Tower and Prudential hired Robert A. M. Stern to conduct a study on the Apollo, Lyric, Selwyn, Times Square, and Victory theaters on the north side of 42nd Street. Stern devised three alternatives for the five theaters. City and state officials announced plans for the five theaters, along with the Liberty Theatre on the south side of 42nd Street, in September 1988. Stern presented a model of his plan the next month. The plan called for reducing the size of the Selwyn Theatre to accommodate "intimate drama", as well as replacing the Selwyn Building with a structure containing rehearsal studios. The UDC opened a request for proposals for six of the theaters that October. The Liberty and Victory were to be converted into performing-arts venues for nonprofit organizations, while the Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square were to be converted to commercial use. By the end of the year, the plans were threatened by a lack of money.

In early 1989, several dozen nonprofit theater companies submitted plans to the UDC for the takeover of six theaters. Most of the bids were for the Liberty and Victory, but the Selwyn, Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters received 13 bids between them. That year, the Durst Organization acquired the leases to eight theaters in Times Square, including the Selwyn. It subsequently announced plans to renovate the eight theaters in February 1990. The theaters closed when the New York state government acquired the theater sites that April via eminent domain. The city had planned to buy out the theaters' leases but withdrew after the 42nd Street Company indicated it would lease the theaters to another developer. Although Durst protested the move, a New York Supreme Court judge ruled that the condemnation could occur.

### New 42nd Street control

#### 1990s proposals

A nonprofit organization, New 42nd Street, was formed in September 1990 to restore six of the theaters and find uses for them. Government officials hoped that development of the theaters would finally allow the construction of the four towers around 42nd Street, Broadway, and Seventh Avenue. In 1992, New 42nd Street received a \$18.2 million grant for restoring the six theaters as part of an agreement with Prudential and Park Tower. Donna Dennis used the vacant theater's facade in 1993 for an art exhibition that included old playbills. That year, officials proposed opening the New York Information Center, which would occupy the Times Square Theater and either the Apollo or Lyric theaters. After Disney committed to restoring the New Amsterdam Theatre in 1994, most of the other theaters around 42nd Street were quickly leased. Garth Drabinsky, president of Canadian company Livent, signed a long-term lease for the Apollo and Lyric theaters in July 1995, and the present Lyric Theatre (then known as the Ford Center for the Performing Arts) opened in 1998.

In September 1994, MTV took an option on the Apollo, Lyric, and Times Square theaters, which it planned to convert into a production studio. However, the negotiations with MTV fell through. Marvel Entertainment signed a letter of intent to build a Marvel Mania restaurant inside the Times Square in May 1996. These plans were placed on hold after Marvel Entertainment Group filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of the year. In mid-1997, Billboard Live International was negotiating to renovate the Times Square into a live-concert venue. Had this plan been successful, the theater building would have been expanded to 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) to accommodate live concerts, and much of the theater's architectural details would have been preserved. After Billboard Live reneged, CBS considered leasing the theater as a broadcast studio by late 1997. Ultimately, CBS never signed a lease. Yet another themed restaurant, operated by WrestleMania, was proposed for the theater in early 1998, though WrestleMania also did not sign a lease.

New 42nd Street leased the theater in August 1998 to Livent, which proposed an entertainment complex with a 500-seat auditorium and a themed restaurant. Livent encountered major accounting issues within a week of the lease. By November 1998, Livent had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the company canceled its plans to redevelop the Times Square Theater. New 42nd Street Inc. president Cora Cahan said she had received several proposals for potential uses of the theater, though most bidders said they did not want to build a performance space there. Producer Stewart F. Lane had proposed converting the theater for live use, but Cahan rejected the plan in January 1999. In the meantime, advertising firm TDI installed seven advertisement panels between the theater's columns. Cahan said that, in three months, the ads could raise \$100,000 for New 42nd Street's adjacent rehearsal studios. By then, the popularity of theme restaurants was decreasing, and most sites in the neighborhood had already been redeveloped.

#### 2000s and early 2010s

The Times Square Theater remained empty in 2000, after every other theater on the block had been renovated. Part of the issue was that it was not viable as a theater, as its only entrance was on 42nd Street, making it more difficult to load scenery and props. In addition, the Times Square was old, had a small lobby, and suffered from noise issues. The 42nd Street Development Project had its offices on the former stage until 2004. Construction workers removed seat cushions and dismantled the project's offices before the theater was marketed for commercial use. That year, New 42nd Street agreed to lease the Times Square to Ecko Unltd., which planned to convert it into a hip-hop store. Ecko planned to build a 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m2) or 30,000 sq ft (2,800 m2) store across four floors. The firm of Janson-Goldstein was hired to renovate the space; at the time, the store would have been completed in 2006. The project stalled after the planning process, even though Ecko had continued to pay rent, and the theater was covered in plywood. In 2009, the company abandoned its lease, and Cahan considered filing a lawsuit against Ecko.

A mural by Sofia Maldonado was placed on the empty theater in 2010. The Observer reported in early 2011 that a 4D theater was being planned for the Times Square. The next year, a group called Broadway 4D Theaters, LLC signed a long-term lease for the theater. The Times Square would have been renovated to accommodate a 4D film presentation dedicated to the history of Broadway, Broadway Sensation, to be produced by lawyer Robert Kory and producer/director Gary Goddard. The attraction was expected to open in early 2015. The Times Square had proven so hard to lease that the Real Estate Board of New York granted an award to the brokers who had arranged the deal. The media reported in 2014 that the project had been canceled due to financial troubles. In August 2015, Elie Samaha and Donald Kushner announced they purchased the assets of Broadway 4D Theaters and would continue the project. Singaporean company Oracle Projects International reportedly leased the theater in March 2016 for use as an event space.

#### Renovation

Stillman Development International LLC signed a 73-year lease for the Times Square Theater in 2017. The following year, Stillman and its partner Daishin Securities [ko] announced a \$100 million renovation of the building. Colliers International was also hired to market the building. At the time of the announcement, the project was supposed to take two years. Stillman hired Beyer Blinder Belle to design the renovation, add several stories, and raise the facade by five feet. The facade would be separated from the interior structure and raised using hydraulic jacks. In addition, Stillman would remove the proscenium arch, dome, and boxes for restoration. Even though the LPC had not designated the Times Square Theater as a landmark, parts of the building were still subject to preservation guidelines. The New York City Economic Development Corporation and the 42nd Street Development Project's Historic Preservation Committee both supported the plans.

In early 2019, Stillman's executive vice president Armen Boyajian expressed hope that the theater's restoration would be completed by early 2021. John Tiedemann had removed an iron gate on the facade for restoration, while contractor Shawmut had removed some of the interior decorative elements. The developers filed partial demolition plans for the Times Square Theater with the New York City Department of Buildings in July 2019. The developers then submitted construction plans in February 2020. Though the renovation had been slated for completion in 2020, the renovation was still incomplete at the beginning of 2021, and the developers did not give an updated timeline. Work on the Times Square had stalled by January 2023 because no tenants had shown interest in occupying the theater.

## Notable productions

Productions are listed by the year of their first performance. This list only includes Broadway shows; it does not include films screened there.

- 1920: The Mirage
- 1921: The Demi-Virgin
- 1921: A Bill of Divorcement
- 1923: Pelleas and Melisande
- 1924: Andre Charlot's Revue of 1924
- 1924: Battling Buttler
- 1925: Mismates
- 1925: Kosher Kitty Kelly
- 1926: Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
- 1928: The Front Page
- 1929: The Middle Watch
- 1929: Other Men's Wives
- 1930: Strike Up the Band
- 1930: The Merchant of Venice
- 1931: Private Lives
- 1932: Clear All Wires!
- 1933: Forsaking All Others

Former theater in Manhattan, New York


King Charles Spaniel

The King Charles Spaniel (also known as the English Toy Spaniel) is a small dog breed of the spaniel type. In 1903, the Kennel Club combined four separate toy spaniel breeds under this single title. The other varieties merged into this breed were the Blenheim, Ruby and Prince Charles Spaniels, each of which contributed one of the four colours available in the breed.

Thought to have originated in East Asia, toy spaniels were first seen in Europe during the 16th century. They became linked with English royalty in the time of Queen Mary I and were made famous by their association with King Charles II. Members of the breed were owned by Queen Victoria (Dash) and her great-granddaughter Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.

The King Charles Spaniel and the other types of toy spaniels were crossbred with the Pug in the early 19th century to reduce the size of the nose, as was the style of the day. The 20th century saw attempts to restore lines of King Charles Spaniels to the breed of Charles II's time. These included the unsuccessful Toy Trawler Spaniel and the now popular Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. The Cavalier is slightly larger, with a flat head and a longer nose, while the King Charles is smaller, with a domed head and a flat face.

Historically the breeds that were merged into the King Charles Spaniel were used for hunting; due to their stature they were not well suited. They have kept their hunting instincts, but do not exhibit high energy and are better suited to being lapdogs. The modern breed is prone to several health problems, including cardiac conditions and a range of eye problems.

## History

The King Charles Spaniel may share a common ancestry with the Pekingese and Japanese Chin.

The red and white variety of toy spaniel was first seen in paintings by Titian, including the Venus of Urbino (1538), where a small dog is used as a symbol of female seductiveness. Further paintings featuring these toy spaniels were created by Palma Vecchio and Paolo Veronese during the 16th century. These dogs already had high domed heads with short noses, although the muzzles were more pointed than they are today. These Italian toy spaniels may have been crossed with local small dogs such as the Maltese and also with imported Chinese dogs. The Papillon is the continental descendant of similar toy-sized spaniels.

The earliest recorded appearance of a toy spaniel in England was in a painting of Queen Mary I and King Philip. Mary, Queen of Scots, was also fond of small toy dogs, including spaniels, showing the fondness of the British royalty for these types of dogs before Charles II.

King Henry III of France owned a number of small spaniels, which were called Damarets. Although one of the translations of John Caius' 1570 Latin work De Canibus Britannicis talks of "a new type of Spaniel brought out of France, rare, strange, and hard to get", this was an addition in a later translation, and was not in the original text. Caius did discuss the "Spainel-gentle, or Comforter" though, which he classified as a delicate thoroughbred. This spaniel was thought to originate from Malta and was sought out only as a lapdog for "daintie dames".

Captain John Saris may have brought back examples of toy spaniels from his voyage to Japan in 1613, a theory proposed by Commodore Matthew C. Perry during his expeditions to Japan on behalf of the United States in the mid-19th century. He noted that dogs were a common gift and thought that the earlier voyage of Captain Saris introduced a Japanese type of spaniel into England.

### 17th century and Charles II

In the 17th century, toy spaniels began to feature in paintings by Dutch artists such as Caspar Netscher and Peter Paul Rubens. Spanish artists, including Juan de Valdés Leal and Diego Velázquez, also depicted them; in the Spanish works, the dogs were tricolour, black and white or entirely white. French naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon would later describe these types of dogs as crosses between spaniels and Pugs.

King Charles II of England was very fond of the toy spaniel, which is why the dogs now carry his name, although there is no evidence that the modern breeds are descended from his particular dogs. He is credited with causing an increase in popularity of the breed during this period. Samuel Pepys' diary describes how the spaniels were allowed to roam anywhere in Whitehall Palace, including during state occasions. In an entry dated 4 September 1667, describing a council meeting, Pepys wrote, "All I observed there was the silliness of the King, playing with his dog all the while and not minding the business." Charles' sister Princess Henrietta was painted by Pierre Mignard holding a small red and white toy-sized spaniel. Judith Blunt-Lytton, 16th Baroness Wentworth, writing in her 1911 work Toy Dogs and Their Ancestors, theorised that after Henrietta's death at the age of 26 in 1670, Charles took her dogs for himself.

### After Charles II

Toy spaniels continued to be popular in the British court during the reign of King James II, through that of Queen Anne. Popular types included those of the white and red variety. Following the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and the reign of King William III and Queen Mary II, the Pug was introduced into Britain which would eventually lead to drastic physical changes to the King Charles Spaniel. Comparisons between needlework pictures of English toy spaniels and the continental variety show that changes had already begun to take place in the English types by 1736, with a shorter nose being featured and the breed overall moving away from the one seen in earlier works by Anthony van Dyck during the 17th century.

English toy spaniels remained popular enough during the 18th century to be featured frequently in literature and in art. On Rover, a Lady's Spaniel, Jonathan Swift's satire of Ambrose Philips's poem to the daughter of the Lord Lieutenant, describes the features of an English toy, specifying a "forehead large and high" among other physical characteristics of the breeds. Toy spaniels and Pugs were featured in both group portraits and satirical works by William Hogarth. Toy spaniels were still popular with the upper classes as ladies' dogs, despite the introduction of the Pug; both Thomas Gainsborough's portrait of Queen Charlotte from 1781 and George Romney's 1782 Lady Hamilton as Nature feature toy spaniels with their mistresses. The toy spaniels of this century weighed as little as 5 pounds (2.3 kg), although they were thought to be the dog breed most prone to becoming overweight, or "fattened".

### 19th century and the Blenheim Spaniel

The varieties of toy spaniel were occasionally used in hunting, as the Sportsman's Repository reported in 1830 of the Blenheim Spaniel: "Twenty years ago, His Grace the Duke of Marlborough was reputed to possess the smallest and best breed of cockers in Britain; they were invariably red–and–white, with very long ears, short noses, and black eyes." During this period, the term "cocker" was not used to describe a Cocker Spaniel, but rather a type of small spaniel used to hunt woodcock. The Duke's residence, Blenheim Palace, gave its name to the Blenheim Spaniel. The Sportsman's Repository explains that toy spaniels are able to hunt, albeit not for a full day or in difficult terrain: "The very delicate and small, or 'carpet spaniels,' have exquisite nose, and will hunt truly and pleasantly, but are neither fit for a long day or thorny covert." This idea was supported by Vero Shaw in his 1881 work The Illustrated Book of the Dog, and by Thomas Brown in 1829 who wrote, "He is seldom used for field–sports, from his diminutive size, being easily tired, and is too short in the legs to get through swampy ground." During the 19th century, the Maltese was still considered to be a type of spaniel, and thought to be the parent breed of toy spaniels, including both the King Charles and Blenheim varieties.

The breeds of toy spaniel often rivalled the Pug in popularity as lapdogs for ladies. The disadvantage of the breeds of toy spaniel was that their long coats required constant grooming. By 1830, the toy spaniel had changed somewhat from the dogs of Charles II's day. William Youatt in his 1845 study, The Dog, was not enamoured of the changes: "The King Charles's breed of the present day is materially altered for the worse. The muzzle is almost as short, and the forehead as ugly and prominent as the veriest bull-dog. The eye is increased to double its former size, and has an expression of stupidity with which the character of the dog too accurately corresponds." Youatt did concede that the breed's long ears, coat and colouring were attractive. Due to the fashion of the period, the toy spaniels were crossed with Pugs to reduce the size of their noses and then selectively bred to reduce it further. By doing this, the dog's sense of smell was impaired, and according to 19th century writers, this caused the varieties of toy spaniel to be removed from participation in field sports. Blunt-Lytton proposed that the red and white Blenheim Spaniels always had the shorter nose now seen in the modern King Charles.

From the 16th century, it was the fashion for ladies to carry small toy-sized spaniels as they travelled around town. These dogs were called "Comforters" and given the species biological classification of Canis consolator by 19th-century dog writers. By the 1830s, this practice was no longer in vogue, and these types of spaniels were becoming rarer. "Comforter" was given as a generic term to lapdogs, including the Maltese, the English Toy and Continental Toy Spaniels, the latter of which was similar to the modern Phalène. It was once believed that the dogs possessed some power of healing: in 1607 Edward Topsell repeated Caius' observation that "these little dogs are good to asswage the sickness of stomach, being oftentimes thereunto applied as a plaister preservative, or bourne in the bosum of the diseased and weak person, which effect is performed by their moderate heat." By the 1840s, "Comforter" had dropped out of use, and the breed had returned to being called Toy Spaniels. The first written occurrence of a ruby coloured toy spaniel was a dog named Dandy, owned by a Mr Garwood in 1875.

The dogs continued to be popular with royalty. In 1896, Otto von Bismarck purchased a King Charles Spaniel from an American kennel for \$1,000. The dog weighed less than 2 pounds (0.9 kg), and had been disqualified from the Westminster Kennel Club the previous year on account of its weight. The average price was lower than that paid by Bismarck. In 1899, the price ranged between \$50 and \$200 for a King Charles or Blenheim, with the Ruby and Prince Charles Spaniel ranging between \$50 and \$150.

Anne Brontë's "Flossy," given to her by the Robinson children when she left her governorship of them, was a King Charles Spaniel.

### Conformation showing and the 20th century

In 1903, the Kennel Club attempted to amalgamate the King James (black and tan), Prince Charles (tricolour), Blenheim and Ruby spaniels into a single breed called the Toy Spaniel. The Toy Spaniel Club, which oversaw those separate breeds, strongly objected, and the argument was only resolved following the intervention of King Edward VII, who made it clear that he preferred the name "King Charles Spaniel". In 1904, the American Kennel Club followed suit, combining the four breeds into a single breed known as the English Toy Spaniel. The Japanese Spaniel was also considered a type of toy spaniel, but was not merged into the new breed and was recognised as a breed in its own right.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia owned a King Charles Spaniel at the time of the shooting of the Romanov family on 17 July 1918. Eight days later, Nicholas Sokolov of the White Forces found a clearing where he believed the bodies of the Romanov family had been burnt, and discovered the corpse of a King Charles Spaniel at the site. In 1920s, the Duchess of Marlborough bred so many King Charles Spaniels at Blenheim Palace that her husband moved out and later evicted the Duchess herself.

Blunt-Lytton documented her attempts in the early 20th century to re-breed the 18th-century type of King Charles Spaniel as seen in the portraits of King Charles II. She used the Toy Trawler Spaniel, a curly haired, mostly black, small to medium-sized spaniel, and cross-bred these dogs with a variety of other breeds, including Blenheim Spaniels and Cocker Spaniels, in unsuccessful attempts to reproduce the earlier style.

The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel originated from a competition held by American Roswell Eldridge in 1926. He offered a prize fund for the best male and female dogs of "Blenheim Spaniels of the old type, as shown in pictures of Charles II of England's time, long face, no stop, flat skull, not inclined to be domed, with spot in centre of skull." Breeders entered what they considered to be sub-par King Charles Spaniels. Although Eldridge did not live to see the new breed created, several breeders banded together and created the first breed club for the new Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in 1928, with the Kennel Club initially listing the new breed as "King Charles Spaniels, Cavalier type". In 1945, the Kennel Club recognised the new breed in its own right. The American Kennel Club did not recognise the Cavalier until 1997.

Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, continued the connection between royalty and the King Charles Spaniel, attending Princess Anne's tenth birthday party with her dog Rolly in 1960. Elizabeth II has also owned King Charles Spaniels in addition to the dogs most frequently associated with her, the Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

In 2008, the BBC documentary Pedigree Dogs Exposed was critical of the breeding of a variety of pedigree breeds including the King Charles Spaniel. The show highlighted issues involving syringomyelia in both the King Charles and Cavalier breeds. Mark Evans, the chief veterinary advisor for the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), said, "Dog shows using current breed standards as the main judging criteria actively encourage both the intentional breeding of deformed and disabled dogs and the inbreeding of closely related animals"; this opinion was seconded by the Scottish SPCA. Following the programme, the RSPCA ended its sponsorship of the annual Crufts dog show, and the BBC declined to broadcast the event.

The King Charles Spaniel is less popular than the Cavalier in both the UK and the US. In 2010, the Cavalier was the 23rd most popular breed, according to registration figures collected by the American Kennel Club, while the English Toy Spaniel was the 126th. In the UK, according to the Kennel Club, the Cavalier is the most popular breed in the Toy Group, with 8,154 puppies registered in 2010, compared to 199 registrations for King Charles Spaniels. Due to the low number of registrations, the King Charles was identified as a Vulnerable Native Breed by the Kennel Club in 2003 in an effort to help promote the breed.

## Description

The King Charles has large dark eyes, a short nose, a high domed head and a line of black skin around the mouth. On average, it stands 9 to 11 inches (23 to 28 cm) at the withers, with a small but compact body. The breed has a traditionally docked tail, except in the UK and some other European Countries where docking and cropping has been illegal since 2006. Cropping of ears has been illegal in the UK for over 100 years. It has the long pendulous ears typical of a spaniel and its coat comes in four varieties, trait it shares with its offshoot, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

The four sets of markings reflect the four former breeds from which the modern breed was derived. Black and tan markings are known as "King Charles", while "Prince Charles" is tricoloured, "Blenheim" is red and white, and "Ruby" is a single-coloured solid rich red. The "King Charles" black and tan markings typically consist of a black coat with mahogany/tan markings on the face, legs and chest and under the tail. The tricoloured "Prince Charles" is mostly white with black patches and mahogany/tan markings in similar locations to the "King Charles". The "Blenheim" has a white coat with red patches, and should have a distinctive red spot in the center of the skull.

King Charles Spaniels are often mistaken for Cavalier King Charles Spaniels. There are several significant differences between the two breeds, the principal being the size. While the Cavalier weighs on average between 13 and 18 pounds (5.9 and 8.2 kg), the King Charles is smaller at 8 to 14 pounds (3.6 to 6.4 kg). In addition, their facial features, while similar, are distinguishable: the Cavalier's ears are set higher and its skull is flat, while the King Charles' is domed. Finally, the muzzle length of the King Charles tends to be shorter than the typical muzzle on a Cavalier.

The American Kennel Club has two classes, English Toy Spaniel (B/PC) (Blenheim and Prince Charles) and English Toy Spaniel (R/KC), while in the UK, the Kennel Club places the breed in a single class. Under the Fédération Cynologique Internationale groups, the King Charles is placed in the English Toy Spaniel section within the Companion and Toy Dog Group, along with the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

## Temperament

The King Charles is a friendly breed, to the extent that it is not typically as suitable as a watchdog as some breeds, though it may still bark to warn its owners of an approaching visitor. It is not a high energy breed, and enjoys the company of family members, being primarily a lapdog. Although able to bond well with children and tolerant of them, it will not accept rough handling. It prefers not to be left alone for long periods. Known as one of the quietest toy breeds, it is suitable for apartment living.

The breed can tolerate other pets well, although the King Charles still has the hunting instincts of its ancestors and may not always be friendly towards smaller animals. It is intelligent enough to be used for obedience work and, due to its stable temperament, it can be a successful therapy dog for hospitals and nursing homes.

## Health

A natural bobtail can be found in some members of the breed, which is not a mutation of the T-box gene, and so is allowed under conformation show rules. Health-related research on the breed has been limited, with no major studies conducted in Britain. However, it has been included in studies outside the UK, including by the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFA) in the United States. The King Charles Spaniel has a number of eye and respiratory system disorders common to brachycephalic dogs, and endocrine and metabolic diseases common to small breeds, as well as specific breed-associated health conditions. The average lifespan is 10 to 12 years, and the breed should be able to reproduce naturally.

### Eye and heart conditions

The eye problems associated with the King Charles Spaniel include cataracts, corneal dystrophy, distichia, entropion, microphthalmia, optic disc drusen, and keratitis. Compared to other breeds, the King Charles Spaniel has an increased risk of distichia (where extra eyelashes or hairs cause irritation to the eye). Inheritance is suspected in the other conditions, with ages of onset ranging from six months for cataracts to two to five years for corneal dystrophy.

Heart conditions related to the King Charles Spaniel include mitral valve disease, in which the mitral valve degrades, causing blood to flow backwards through the chambers of the heart and eventually leading to congestive heart failure. Patent ductus arteriosus, where blood is channelled back from the heart into the lungs, is also seen and can lead to heart failure. Both of these conditions present with similar symptoms and are inheritable. The OFA conducted a survey on cardiac disease, where of 105 breeds, the King Charles Spaniel was found to be 7th worst, with 2.1% of 189 dogs affected.

### Other common issues

Being a brachycephalic breed, King Charles Spaniels can be sensitive to anesthesia. This is because in brachycephalic dogs, there is additional tissue in the throat directly behind the mouth and nasal cavity, known as the pharynx, and anesthesia acts as a muscle relaxant causing this tissue to obstruct the dogs' narrow airways. These narrow airways can decrease the dogs' ability to exercise properly and increase their susceptibility to heat stroke. Other congenital and hereditary disorders found in the King Charles Spaniel are hanging tongue, where a neurological defect prevents the tongue from retracting into the mouth; diabetes mellitus, which may be associated with cataracts; cleft palate and umbilical hernia. The English Toy Spaniel Club of America recommends that umbilical hernias be corrected only if other surgery is required, due to the risk of surgery in brachycephalic breeds. In another study conducted by the OFA, the King Charles Spaniel was the 38th worst of 99 breeds for patella luxation; of 75 animals tested, 4% were found to have the ailment. However, surveys conducted by the Finnish breed club between 1988 and 2007 found that the occurrences were higher in some years, ranging from 5.3% to 50%.

There are several breed traits which may cause concern as health issues. They include skull issues such as an open fontanelle, where in young dogs there is a soft spot in the skull; it is common in dogs under a year old. A complication from that condition is hydrocephalus, also known as water on the brain. This condition may cause neurological symptoms that require the dog to be euthanised. Fused toes, where two or more of the dog's toes are fused together, may seem to be a health issue but this breed trait is not a cause for concern.

## Urban myth

An urban legend claims that Charles II issued a special decree granting King Charles Spaniels permission to enter any establishment in the UK, overriding "no dog except guide dogs" rules. A variant of this myth relates specifically to the Houses of Parliament. This myth is sometimes instead applied to the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

The UK Parliament website states: "Contrary to popular rumour, there is no Act of Parliament referring to King Charles spaniels being allowed anywhere in the Palace of Westminster. We are often asked this question and have thoroughly researched it." Similarly, there is no proof of any such law covering the wider UK. A spokesman for the Kennel Club said: "This law has been quoted from time to time. It is alleged in books that King Charles made this decree but our research hasn't tracked it down."

## See also

- Cavalier King Charles Spaniel
- Toy dog


Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a 1944 triptych painted by the Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon. The canvasses are based on the Eumenides—or Furies—of Aeschylus's Oresteia, and depict three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a flat burnt orange background. It was executed in oil paint and pastel on Sundeala fibre board and completed within two weeks. The triptych summarises themes explored in Bacon's previous work, including his examination of Picasso's biomorphs and his interpretations of the Crucifixion and the Greek Furies. Bacon did not realise his original intention to paint a large crucifixion scene and place the figures at the foot of the cross.

The Three Studies are generally considered Bacon's first mature piece; he regarded his works before the triptych as irrelevant, and throughout his life tried to suppress their appearance on the art market. When the painting was first exhibited in 1945 it caused a sensation and established him as one of the foremost post-war painters. Remarking on the cultural significance of Three Studies, the critic John Russell observed in 1971 that "there was painting in England before the Three Studies, and painting after them, and no one ... can confuse the two".

## Background

As an artist, Francis Bacon was a late starter. He painted sporadically and without commitment during the late 1920s and early 1930s, when he worked as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs. He later admitted that his career was delayed because he had spent so long looking for a subject that would sustain his interest. He began to paint images based on the Crucifixion in 1933, when his then-patron Eric Hall commissioned a series of three paintings based on the subject. These abstract figurations contain formal elements typical of their time, including diaphanous forms, flat backgrounds, and surrealist props such as flowers and umbrellas. The art critic Wieland Schmied noted that while the early works are "aesthetically pleasing", they lack "a sense of urgency or inner necessity; they are beautiful, but lifeless". The sentiment is echoed by Hugh Davies, who wrote that Bacon's 1933 paintings "suggest an artist concentrating more on formal than on expressive concerns". Bacon admitted that his early works were not successful; they were merely decorative and lacking in substance. He was often harshly self-critical during this period, and would abandon or destroy canvasses before they were completed. He abandoned the Crucifixion theme, then largely withdrew from painting in frustration, instead immersing himself in love affairs, drinking and gambling.

When he returned to the topic of the Crucifixion eleven years later, he retained some of the stylistic elements he had developed earlier, such as the elongated and dislocated organic forms that he now based on Oresteia. He continued to incorporate the spatial device he was to use many times throughout his career—three lines radiating from this central figure, which was first seen in Crucifixion, 1933. Three Studies was painted over the course of two weeks in 1944, when, Bacon recalled, "I was in a bad mood of drinking, and I did it under tremendous hangovers and drink; I sometimes hardly knew what I was doing. I think perhaps the drink helped me to be a bit freer." The painting was executed in a ground-floor flat at 7 Cromwell Place, South Kensington in London. A large back room in the building had been converted into a billiard room by its previous occupant, artist John Everett Millais. It was Bacon's studio by day; at night, abetted by Eric Hall and Bacon's childhood nanny Jessie Lightfoot, it functioned as an illicit casino.

Although he had been painting for almost twenty years, Bacon steadfastly insisted that Three Studies was the fons et origo of his career. He destroyed many of his earlier canvasses, and tried to suppress those that had left his studio. Bacon was emphatic that no pre-1944 images be admitted into his canon, and most of the early art critics agreed with this position. The early publications of John Russell and David Sylvester open with the 1944 triptych, and Bacon insisted to his death that no retrospective should feature paintings pre-dating 1944.

## The triptych

The panels of Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion are painted on light Sundeala boards, a material Bacon was using at the time as an inexpensive alternative to canvas. Each bears a single taut sculptural form pitched against a harsh orange background. The orange hue displays inconsistently across the canvasses, due in part to the low level of oil in the paint, which resulted in varying rates of absorption into the board. The pallid flesh tones of the figures were achieved by overlaying grey and white brushstrokes, while the figures' props were coloured using a variety of yellow, green, white, and purple tones.

The art critic Hugh Davies has suggested that of the three figures, that on the left most closely resembles a human form, and that it might represent a mourner at the cross. Seated on a table-like structure, this limbless creature has an elongated neck, heavily rounded shoulders, and a thick mop of dark hair. Like its affiliate objects, the left-hand figure is portrayed with layers of white and grey paint.

The central figure's mouth is positioned directly on its neck, rather than on a distinct face. It bares its teeth as if in a snarl, and is blindfolded by a drooping cloth bandage—a device likely drawn from Matthias Grünewald's Mocking of Christ. This creature faces the viewer directly and is centralised by a series of converging lines radiating from the base of the pedestal.

Situated on an isolated patch of grass, the right-hand figure's toothed mouth is stretched open as if screaming, although David Sylvester has suggested that it may be yawning. Its mouth is open to a degree impossible for a human skull. The orange background of this panel is brighter than the hues rendered in the other frames, and the figure's neck opens up into a row of teeth, while a protruding ear juts out from behind its lower jaw. This panel closely resembles an earlier painting by Bacon, Untitled, c. 1943, which was thought destroyed until it re-emerged in 1997.

Inspection under infrared has revealed that the panels were heavily reworked during a number of revisions. The legs of the central figure are surrounded by small magenta horseshoe shapes, which infrared shows to have been first drafted as flowers. The area below the head is thickly coated with white and orange paint, while the inspection exposes a series of underlying curved brushstrokes used to compose a landscape, and a small distant reclining figure. When the canvas is unframed, a number of measuring marks are visible on the outer margin of board, indicating that the composition was carefully conceived.

Bacon said in a 1959 letter that the figures in Three Studies were "intended to [be] use[d] at the base of a large Crucifixion which I may still do". By this, Bacon implied that the figures were conceived as a predella to a larger altarpiece. The biographer Michael Peppiatt has suggested that the panels may have emerged as single works, and that the idea of combining them as a triptych came later. There is little in the themes or styles of the three panels to suggest that they were originally conceived as a whole. Though they share the same orange background, Bacon had already used this colour in two prior pieces; moreover, his oeuvre can be characterized by periods that are dominated by a single background colour. From the beginning of his career, Bacon preferred to work in series and found that his imagination was stimulated by sequences; as he put it, "images breed other images in me."

The Crucifixion itself is conspicuously absent, and there is no trace or shadow of its presence in the panels. Writing in 1996, Wieland Schmied noted that the three Furies have replaced Christ and the two thieves crucified on either side of him. The form of the Furies is borrowed directly from Picasso's late 1920s and mid-1930s pictures of biomorphs on beaches, in particular from the Spanish artist's The Bathers (1937). However, the eroticism and comedy of Picasso's figures have been replaced by a sense of menace and terror derived in part from Matthias Grünewald's Mocking of Christ.

## Themes and style

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion is a key precursor to Bacon's later work, and he sustained its formal and thematic preoccupations throughout his career. The triptych format, the placement of figures behind glass in heavily gilded frames, the open mouth, the use of painterly distortion, the Furies, and the theme of the Crucifixion were all to reappear in later works. Bacon's principal mode of expression is introduced: the subjects are anatomically and physically distorted, and the mood is violent, foreboding, and relentlessly physical. In other respects the triptych stands apart from other paintings in his oeuvre. It refers directly to its inspirations, and interprets the source material in an uncharacteristically literal manner. The triptych is further distinct in that its creatures are located in an outside space; by 1948, Bacon's studies of heads and figures specifically emphasised their confinement in rooms or other closed spaces.

Although Bacon stated that he modelled the creatures on the Furies, the visual link to the sources is barely perceptible in his finished work. The mood and tone of the painting, however, is consistent with the agonized spirit of the Furies' legend. They are traditionally depicted as ancient chthonic deities preoccupied with avenging patricide and matricide by hunting down and killing violent criminals. In Aeschylus' The Oresteia, the title character is pursued by the Furies in revenge for the murder of his mother Clytemnestra. The saga tells the story of the decimation of the line of Atreus; Clytemnestra had hacked to death her husband Agamemnon, and later slew Cassandra, who had foreseen the murders and declared: "Drunken, drunken with blood / To make them dare the more, a reveling rout / Is in the rooms which no man shall cast out, of sister Furies."

Bacon did not seek to illustrate the narrative of the tale, however. He told the French art critic Michel Leiris, "I could not paint Agamemnon, Clytemnestra or Cassandra, as that would have been merely another kind of historical painting ... Therefore I tried to create an image of the effect it produced inside me." Aeschylus' phrase "the reek of human blood smiles out at me" in particular haunted Bacon, and his treatments of the mouth in the triptych and many subsequent paintings were attempts to visualise the sentiment. In 1985, he observed that Aeschylus' phrase brought up in him "the most exciting images, and I often read it ... the violence of it brings up the images in me, 'the reek of human blood smiles out at me', well what could be more amazing than that."

Bacon was introduced to Aeschylus through T. S. Eliot's 1939 play The Family Reunion, in which the protagonist Harry is haunted by "the sleepless hunters / that will not let me sleep". In Eliot's play, the Furies serve as embodiments of the remorse and guilt felt by Harry, who harbours a dark family secret, shared only with his sister.[^1] Bacon was captivated by Aeschylus' play, and keen to learn more about Greek tragedy, although he said many times that he regretted being unable to read the original in Greek. In 1942, he read the Irish scholar William Bedell Stanford's Aeschylus in his Style, and found the theme of obsessive guilt in The Oresteia to be highly resonant. In 1984, Bacon told Sylvester that although his painting's subject matter did not have a direct relationship with the poet's work, for him Eliot's work "opened the valves of sensation".

The mouth of the triptych's central figure was also inspired by the nurse's scream in film director Sergei Eisenstein's Odessa Steps massacre sequence in The Battleship Potemkin (1925). In 1984, the broadcaster Melvyn Bragg confronted Bacon with a reproduction of the centre panel during the filming of a South Bank Show documentary, and observed that in his earlier career the artist seemed preoccupied with the physicality of the human mouth. Bacon replied, "I had always thought that I would be able to make the mouth with all the beauty of a Monet landscape though I never succeeded in doing so." When Bragg asked why he thought he had failed, Bacon admitted, "It should be all much more colour, should have got more of the interior of the mouth, with all the colours of the interior of the mouth, but I didn't happen to get it."

Other than in Picasso's exploration of the theme, the Crucifixion did not figure prominently in twentieth-century painting. The Surrealists exploited its shock value, and it was used as a vehicle for blasphemy in isolated instances. Bacon often expressed his admiration for the manner in which old masters such as Cimabue treated the Crucifixion; however, as with Picasso, he was more interested in tackling the subject from a secular, humanist point of view. For Three Studies, Bacon did not approach the Crucifixion as a Christian image per se, but rather found that the scene reflected a particular view of humanity he held. As he told David Sylvester: "it was just an act of man's behaviour, a way of behaviour to another."

The Passion of Christ became a central concern during the early development of Bacon's work, and he returned to the subject throughout his career. When asked by critic Jean Clair why his Crucifixion scenes tended to comprise mainly "slaughter, butchery, mutilated meat and flesh", Bacon replied, "that's all the Crucifixion was, isn't it? ... Actually, you can't think of anything more barbaric than the Crucifixion, and that particular way of killing somebody." While Three Studies may have begun as an attempt to directly represent the Crucifixion scene, his explorations led him towards "something completely different". Bacon came to regard the scene as an armature for exploring new ways of representing human behaviours and emotions. For him it amounted to a kind of self-portraiture; a vehicle for working on "all sorts of very private feelings about behaviour and about the way life is".

Coming in 1944, the triptych was often thought to be informed by the Second World War. Art critic Ziva Amishai-Maisseles observes that the canvas reflects Bacon's own confusion and ambivalence "towards manifestations of violence and power, both of which attracted and repulsed him simultaneously."

## Critical reaction

Three Studies was first shown at a joint exhibition at the Lefevre Gallery, London, in April 1945, alongside work by Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland. Bacon was then unknown and it is likely that his painting was included at the request of Sutherland, his close friend at the time. The Lefevre exhibition coincided with the final days of World War II in Europe, and John Russell has observed that the immediate post-war period in British history was marked by an atmosphere of nostalgia and optimism—a sense that "everything was going to be alright, and visitors went into the Lefevre in a spirit of thanksgiving for perils honourably surmounted."

Both the public and critics were unnerved by the sight of the work. Russell describes being shocked by "images so unrelievedly awful that the mind shut with a snap at the sight of them. Their anatomy was half-human, half-animal, and they were confined in a low-ceilinged, windowless and oddly proportioned space. They could bite, probe, and suck, and they had very long eel-like necks, but their functioning in other respects was mysterious. Ears and mouths they had, but two at least of them were sightless." Writing for Apollo magazine, Herbert Furst recalled, "I, I must confess, was so shocked and disturbed by the Surrealism of Francis Bacon that I was glad to escape from this exhibition. Perhaps it was the red [sic] background that made me think of entrails, of an anatomy or a vivisection and feel squeamish." The triptych caused a sensation, and overnight turned Bacon into the most controversial painter in the country.

Reviewing for the New Statesman and Nation, Raymond Mortimer wrote that the panels "seems served from Picasso's Crucifixion [1930], but further distorted, with ostrich necks and button heads protruding from bags—the whole effect gloomily phallic, like Bosch without the humour. These objects are perched on stools, and depicted as if they were sculpture, as in the Picassos of 1930. I have no doubt of Mr. Bacon's uncommon gifts, but these pictures expressing his sense of the atrocious world into which we have survived seems [to me] symbols of outrage rather than works of art. If peace redresses him, he may delight as he now dismays." Reflecting on the reaction of critics and the public, Bacon offered, "I've never known why my paintings are known as horrible. I'm always labelled with horror, but I never think about horror. Pleasure is such a diverse thing. And horror is too. Can you call the famous Isenheim altar a horror piece? Its one of the greatest paintings of the Crucifixion, with the body studded with thorns like nails, but oddly enough the form is so grand it takes away from the horror. But that is the horror in the sense that it is so vitalising; isn't that how people came out of the great tragedies? People came out as though purged into happiness, into a fuller reality of existence."

Irish author Colm Tóibín noted in 2006 that the triptych has retained its "genuinely startling" impact. Matthew Kieran wrote, in his 2005 essay on the painting, that "these frightened, blind, raging figures are visceral in their impact, jolting one into sensations of fright, horror, isolation and angst. We react to them as self-conscious creatures, their postures and expressions revealing feelings of petrified isolation, searing horror, pain and blind confusion." As of 2007, Three Studies is part of the Tate Gallery's permanent collection, having been donated by Bacon's lover Eric Hall in 1953.

## Second Version of Triptych 1944 (1988)

See Second Version of Triptych 1944

Bacon often created second versions of his major paintings. In 1988, he completed a near-copy of the original Three Studies''. With each panel at 78 × 58 inches (198 × 147 cm), this second version is more than twice the size of the original, and the orange background has been replaced by a blood-red hue. The figures occupy a smaller proportion of the canvas than those of the 1944 version, a device which, according to the Tate Gallery's catalogue, "plung[es] them into a deep void".

Critical opinion was mixed; the 1988 triptych drew criticism from those who felt that its more refined painting technique robbed the image of much of its power. Denis Farr suggested that while the second version's larger scale gave it "a majestic quality which is highly effective", its svelte presentation lessened its shock value. Critic Jonathan Meades felt that while the 1988 triptych was a more polished and painterly work, it lacked the rawness of the original.

Reflecting on Bacon's tendency to revisit subject matter, Meades observed that "Bacon's auto-plagiarism in areas other than portraiture had less deleterious consequences. Nonetheless the 1988 version (or near copy) of the great 1944 Crucifixion Triptych is the lesser work: it is slicker, more polished and it evinces a greater ease with paint. The backgrounds are now elaborated, defined and bereft of the garish, grating poison orange of 1944." The art critic James Demetrion found that despite these differences, the second version still achieves the power and impact of the first.

## See also

- List of paintings by Francis Bacon

[^1]: Carpentier, Martha C. "Orestes in the Drawing Room: Aeschylean Parallels in T. S. Eliot's "The Family Reunion". Twentieth Century Literature, Vol. 35, No. 1''', 1989. 17–42

1944 triptych by Francis Bacon


New York Court of Appeals Building

The New York Court of Appeals Building, officially referred to as Court of Appeals Hall, is located at the corner of Eagle and Pine streets in central Albany, New York, United States. It is a stone Greek Revival building built in 1842 from a design by Henry Rector. In 1971 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, one of seven buildings housing a state's highest court currently so recognized. Seven years later it was included as a contributing property when the Lafayette Park Historic District was listed on the Register.

When built it was known as the State Hall, housing not the court (which sat in the state capitol) but its clerks. In addition to them, it was the offices of several other officials of the state's executive branch. Four years after its completion, a new state constitution was adopted, uniting two separate court hierarchies into one with the Court of Appeals as the highest court in the state.

Rector's design incorporates all three classical orders in the building's rotunda and uses stone arches to support the ceilings in an early attempt at fireproofing. It is one of only two extant buildings known to have been designed by him. Other architects were involved in later work on the building. Henry Hobson Richardson designed the courtroom, originally located in the nearby state capitol in the 1880s and described by a visiting Lord Coleridge as "the finest ... in the world".

Lewis Pilcher oversaw a rear addition in the early 20th century when the courtroom was moved as it had outgrown its traditional space in the capitol, taking Richardson's courtroom along with it except for the ceiling. The building has been through two more renovations since. In the late 1950s it was refaced and the original foundation replaced. An early 21st-century project removed the cupola, added small wings on both sides and completely overhauled the building's internal infrastructure as well as restoring much of the original interior decoration.

## Building

The courthouse occupies half of the block between Columbia, Eagle, Lodge and Pine streets. The building itself takes up the southwestern quadrant; its parking lot, the southeast. The land slopes gently to the east, reflecting the proximity of the Hudson River one-half mile (800 m) in that direction.

In the surrounding neighborhood are many similarly large buildings, most of them governmental or institutional and contributing properties to their historic districts. On the northern half of the block is the Albany County courthouse, an early 20th-century neoclassical building architecturally sympathetic to the Court of Appeals building. South, across Pine, is Albany's City Hall, a stone Romanesque Revival building by Henry Hobson Richardson from the 1880s, also listed on the Register individually. Just to its south, visible from the Court of Appeals building through Corning Park behind City Hall, is St. Peter's Episcopal Church, a French Gothic-style edifice by Richard Upjohn and his son. It is a National Historic Landmark (NHL) as well as a contributing property to the Downtown Albany Historic District, which borders the Lafayette Park Historic District to the east at this point.

Across Eagle Street is the two-acre (0.81 ha) open space of Academy Park. Across it, slightly to the northwest, straddling the boundary between it and the larger Lafayette Park beyond, is the Old Albany Academy Building, an 1815 stone Federal-style work by Philip Hooker that now serves as administrative offices of the City School District of Albany. Its modest scale is in contrast to the monumental New York State Education Department Building, visible across Lafayette Park. Above it the Alfred E. Smith Building's 34 stories tower over the New York State Capitol, also an NHL, across Washington Avenue (New York State Route 5) to the west. The taller towers of the modernist Empire State Plaza are to the southeast. East of the Court of Appeals building, across Lodge Street, is St. Mary's Church, home to the city's oldest Roman Catholic congregation and another listed property that contributes to the Downtown Albany Historic District.

### Exterior

The building itself is a three-story, 11-by-7-bay structure with a wing on the north, two small wings on the east and a larger addition from the exposed basement on that side. It is faced with load-bearing marble blocks, laid as thick as five feet (1.5 m) at the basement level, on a concrete foundation. At the top is a flat roof with a copper-sheathed dome in the center.

In the middle of the east (front) facade is a five-bay projecting portico. Six round fluted Ionic columns support a pediment with plain entablature. On the building itself 12 square smooth Doric pilasters divide the bays. Above the main entrance is a relief of the state seal. Both stories are set with narrow nine-over-nine double-hung sash windows.

Above the columns and pilasters is a plain frieze divided by a small molded cornice. On the portico, the upper portion of the frieze has the legend "Court of Appeals State of New York" engraved in it. Above it is another, broader, overhanging cornice, also found on the pediment. The third story has the same nine-over-nine double-hung sash. Above it is a smaller cornice and parapet. In the middle of the roof is the dome, clad in stainless steel, with an oculus and gold leaf finial at the top.

### Interior

Inside the ceilings are supported by groin-vaulted stone arches rather than timber framing. Floors and stairs are laid in marble flagstone. The first floor has a library and lounge for attorneys, and the John Jay Room, for public events and overflow viewing of oral arguments via closed-circuit television. It and other public areas of the first floor have teak paneling and molding.

All seven judges' chambers are on the second floor, along with their library and the conference room where they meet to cast votes on cases after hearing arguments. The chambers are finished in wooden paneling. A modern Art Deco chandelier lights the conference room. The third floor has some additional library space along with the offices of court and individual judges' clerks.

Under the dome, the rotunda's decorative work uses all three classical orders. Plain Doric columns and capitals on the first floor are topped by carved Ionic columns on the second story. They support ornate Corinthian columns at the top. In the ceiling is The Romance of the Skies, a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) painting depicting the three seasons when the court is in session.

In the rear wing is the courtroom, its interior decorated in ornately hand-carved brown oak, similar to its furniture. Oil portraits of past Court of Appeals judges line the walls up to the 22-foot (6.7 m) carved plaster ceiling. A fireplace of bronze, marble and Mexican onyx is in one wall. The floor has a red carpet decorated with geometric patterns.

## History

Originally, the building housed various state officials rather than the court. Insufficient space at the capitol led to the court's takeover of the building in the 1910s, the first of three major renovations in a century.

### 1842–1917: State Hall

Created in 1777 during the Revolution, the state of New York did not assume full governmental responsibilities for its territory until the end of the war and independence. After several other cities had held the title, Albany, the longtime colonial capital, was formally established as the state capital in the 1790s. The new state government did not need many buildings. Both houses of the state legislature met in Albany's City Hall until the first state capitol was built in 1819; governors rented residences in the city; and the two highest state courts, the Court of Chancery and the Court for the Trial of Impeachments and the Correction of Errors, heard cases in the county courthouse or the capitol. For those officials who needed a dedicated workspace, the first state office building, Old State Hall, was erected in the early 1800s at what is now the corner of Lodge and State streets.

In 1833, the occupants complained that the building was running out of space and inadequate in other ways—in particular, they said, the many records kept within it could be destroyed in a fire. The legislature directed the capitol's trustees to find land for a new building. The trustees acquired the current land and commissioned local architect Henry Rector to design the building.

According to architectural critic Talbot Hamlin, Rector's design "proclaimed the complete triumph of the Greek Revival in the Albany region." The column bases and capitals on the exterior were copied from the Temple of Athena Nike on the Acropolis. Marble for the building, mandated by the legislature, was quarried by inmates at the new Sing Sing Prison near the present-day village of Ossining in Westchester County and shipped up the Hudson River on barges. It was completed by 1842 at a total cost of \$350,000 (\$ in dollars). No other buildings of Rector's survive except for a row of houses on Westerlo Street in Albany's Pastures Historic District.

In addition to its architecture, the building would be notable for two aspects of its engineering as well. One was the use of the stone groin vaults to support the ceilings instead of the timber framing common at the time, an early attempt at fireproofing. The other was the stone staircase in the middle of the rotunda, which started at the first floor and cantilevered out up to the third floor with no visible means of support.

After the building's completion, the state chancellor, Register of Chancery, clerk of the Court of Appeals and its Supreme Court moved in. The state's executive branch was represented by the attorney general, auditor, canal appraisers and commissioners, comptroller and state engineer and surveyor-general. In 1846, a new state constitution reformed the courts, eliminating the Court of Chancery and relegating the Supreme Court to its current role of both appellate and trial court, supreme in that it has the last word on findings of fact but deferring to the new Court of Appeals on questions of law.

However, the tenants of the building remained unchanged. The Court of Appeals sat in the state capitol, both the former building and the current one. In the latter, Henry Hobson Richardson, supervising a construction process that had become delayed since it began in the early 1870s from Thomas Fuller's original plan, designed an ornate wooden courtroom with carved oak walls and furniture. The judges began hearing oral arguments there in 1884. It was described by a visiting Lord Coleridge, Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, as "the finest courtroom in the world."

As the 19th century became the 20th, the state grew and, with it, its government. By 1909 the judges and lawyers alike were complaining that the court's capitol space was inadequate to its modern legal needs. The following year the legislature directed the court to appoint one of its judges to work with the state architect, then Franklin B. Ware, to determine whether the old State Hall could be renovated into an adequate facility. The court appointed Judge William E. Werner. He and Ware commissioned a report from a Rochester architect who concluded that such a renovation was possible.

Even though the fire that ravaged the capitol in 1911 made the need for new court space more pressing, Ware refused to endorse the report, saying the renovation proposed was inadequate. Instead, he proposed redeveloping the entire area around the capitol (today the Lafayette Park Historic District) similarly to Capitol Hill in Washington, including a new courthouse on Swan Street.

Ware's plan was rejected, and Lewis Pilcher replaced him as state architect. He proceeded with the planned renovation of State Hall. In keeping with the wishes of Chief Judge Willard Bartlett, Pilcher's most significant change to the building was a wing on the east to accommodate Richardson's courtroom, which could be moved to State Hall with the exception of its original ceiling. On the interior of the existing building, the rotunda was faced in dark yellow faux Caen stone, and the judges' library, conference room and individual chambers were all painted in shades of cream and lit with pendant drop-globes.

The court approved the redesign in 1914. Work began after the contract was signed the next year; it was complete in time for a formal dedication at the beginning of 1917. The building was at that time officially renamed Court of Appeals Hall, the legend still on its pediment. Governor Charles S. Whitman spoke at the ceremony, saying the building was now dedicated to "the noblest purpose to which a building or a life can be dedicated, the administration of justice."

### 1918–1959: Second renovation

For 30 years the converted State Hall served the needs of judges and lawyers alike. By the late 1940s its age was becoming evident. The state's Department of Public Works reported that the portico was in danger of collapsing, the interior was looking shabby, and the electrical wiring and heating needed to be replaced. Nothing would be done about this situation until Governor Averell Harriman made a surprise inspection of the building in 1956. Two years later another renovation began under state architect Carl Larson and Judge Charles W. Froessel.

The work had been delayed while the judges considered, and rejected, building an entirely new courthouse, as their predecessors had in 1917. They heard cases in the Appellate Division courtroom at the nearby county courthouse, while they received temporary chambers at the capitol. The clerk of courts and his staff took their temporary quarters at an old storage building at Lodge Street and Maiden Lane. The reporter relocated to 6 Elk Street.

Early in the renovation, a short circuit in the elevator machine room started a serious fire that destroyed the roof and dome and badly damaged the rotunda. Work continued, and shortly afterward another serious problem was discovered when excavations around the foundation disclosed that the eastern corners of the building had each sunk 5 inches (13 cm) since 1842, resulting in severe damage to floors, windows, lintels and the interior arches. The original foundations of rubble on clay were replaced with concrete.

A larger new dome, 64 feet (20 m) wide and 23 feet (7.0 m) high, built of steel beams and light concrete planks, replaced the original. It was sheathed in lead-coated copper and topped with a wooden cupola. Inside the dome a 34-foot–wide (10 m) mural by Eugene Savage, The Romance of the Skies, depicts the three seasons—fall, winter and spring—during which the court sits. Except for the removal of the cantilevered stone staircase, now deemed too structurally unstable to use, the rotunda remained unchanged.

It was the only space inside that did. Many rooms received new coats of paint, and the ceiling arches were hidden from view by new walls. New elevators and stairs were installed to replace the original stone stair. Additional amenities, such as air conditioning, an enamel-walled kitchen and television in the reception room, were added for the judges. Their robing room was paneled in birch. Two of the seven judges had chambers on the first floor; the rest were upstairs. The paintings that hung in Robertson's courtroom were cleaned and rehung; a new carpet was installed.

On the outside much of the original marble was removed and replaced with stone quarried in Vermont. Six Ionic columns and new stairs were built for the reconstructed portico. Above the main entrance, an 8-ton (7.3 t) emblem of the state seal sculpted by C. Paul Jennewein was installed.

Despite the fire and the structural issues, the project was finished ahead of schedule in 1959. Nelson Rockefeller, who had succeeded Harriman, gave the court his full support. At the rededication ceremony that October, Chief Judge Albert Conway symbolically accepted the keys from him. Conway observed as he did that the new building reflected the "permanence of an ideal".

### 1960–present: Third renovation

As it had following the 1917 work, the courthouse continued to serve its purpose for the next three decades. By 1999, however, it once again seemed inadequate to the needs of its users. The thick walls made it difficult to adapt for modern electrical and telecommunications purposes. The infrastructure within was almost half a century old, making it difficult to heat and cool the building. The space taken up by those walls meant that the courtroom was the only place the judges and all their combined staff could hold meetings. There were also very few spaces for the public within the building, frustrating attempts to make the court and its history transparent and accessible.

The judges decided that it was necessary to make some small additions to the building along with the infrastructure upgrades. Chief Judge Judith Kaye designated Judge Richard C. Wesley, later elevated to the federal Second Circuit Court of Appeals, as the court's liaison to the project, now managed by the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York as the state architect's position had been abolished. After the necessary appropriations from the legislature, work began in 2001. During the 17 months it took, the judges continued to hear arguments in the courtroom but worked out of temporary quarters outside the city. Project architects were DeWolff Partnership Architects LLP of Rochester.

As the building had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, since its last renovation, preservation and restoration were as important as the expansions. The State Historic Preservation Office was closely involved with the process. It mandated that the newly installed wings on the sides of the building be distinguishable from the original facades after the marble was once again replaced with newly quarried Vermont stone, even though they were architecturally sympathetic to Rector's original design. As a result, they have narrower bays and pilasters, smooth at the base rather than fluted, to subtly distinguish them from the original building.

Elsewhere on the exterior, the dome was made over. The lead-plated copper installed in 1959 was replaced with stainless steel and the cupola from that renovation replaced with the current oculus. Its high-performance glass keeps out ultraviolet light and reduces heat inside. The gold-plated sphere that had topped the cupola remains above the oculus.

Inside, the renovations once more made the ceiling groin vaults visible. The entire infrastructure was replaced, and the newly created space in the main building, plus the additional space in the wings, brought the building to 93,000 square feet (8,600 m2) of total floor space. The Red Room and the Jay Room were created on the first floor to host public functions and exhibits on the history of the court, as well as providing overflow space for those who wished to hear oral arguments in cases that attracted significant interest. All the judges' chambers were now located on the second floor, a change that Kaye had particularly sought.

Photographs and other historical records were studied closely for information about interior decoration that matched earlier eras. The rotunda was done in shades of beige, cream and yellow, as it had appeared to be originally. On the first floor carpets, blues and reds were used following early 20th-century practices. The Red Room and all offices similarly have a painted faux-finish on the walls. Since the third floor is now largely new construction, it uses green primarily. Lighting used throughout duplicates the 1959 renovation, except in the courtroom, where reconstructions of the 1884 chandeliers complement a newly designed carpet.

## See also

- National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York
- Architecture of Albany, New York

Offices of New York state's highest court in Albany

Buildings and structures in Albany, New York

Courthouses on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state)

Greek Revival architecture in New York (state)

Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in New York (state)

National Register of Historic Places in Albany, New York