Apollo Theater
Apollo Theater
The Apollo Theater at 253 West 125th Street may create a performing arts center that encompasses the neighboring Victoria Theater. Meanwhile, it has closed for two months in the first phase of a $50 million renovation.
Another ambitious cultural project that is now taking shape is an Apollo performing arts center that might encompass the Victoria Theater, 233 West 125th Street, whose auditorium is only 15 feet apart from the Apollo on the 126th Street side.
“We’d certainly be in favor of any kind of expansion of the activities of the Apollo into the Victoria Theater,” said Charles A. Gargano, chairman of the Empire State Development Corporation, who said the matter was under negotiation. The state owns both the Victoria and the Apollo, which it has leased to the Apollo Theater Foundation for 99 years. One possibility, Mr. Gargano said, is a 3,000-seat theater on the Victoria site.
Foundation executives said it was premature to talk about reconstruction, demolition, restoration or even acquisition of the Victoria. They focused instead on the renovation of the 1,483-seat Apollo itself, by Davis Brody Bond and Beyer Blinder Belle.
“We’ve thought long and hard about the best way of holding on to the historical richness of the theater while at the same time bringing it current,” said Derek Q. Johnson, president of the foundation. The renovation is to occur in phases; staged so that the performance schedule is not disrupted unduly and also, Mr. Johnson said, “to allow our financial power to meet our real estate aspirations.”
Apollo executives see their project in terms of the overall vitality of 125th Street. “The issue is how you keep it busy after 6 or 7 o’clock at night,” said David D. Rodriguez, executive director of the foundation. “The key answer is to have a vibrant Apollo.”
In the first phase of the renovation, to be completed in October at a cost of about $12 million, the great yellow-and-red blade sign out front will be rehabilitated, the marquee will be updated with light-emitting diodes, the terra cotta facade will be restored, the roof will be repaired, seats will be fixed and carpeting replaced, power capacity will be increased, computer-assisted moving lights will be added and new dimmers, speakers and audio mixing consoles will be installed.
The second phase, costing about $38 million, is to begin next year. It will include the restoration of architectural details and ornament in the auditorium and the construction of a new lobby and gift shop. Seats will be replaced, dressing rooms renovated and restrooms increased. Fiber-optic lines will be extended inconspicuously throughout the theater. All three levels will be made accessible to the disabled.
It is the uncharted phase, involving the 84- year-old Victoria Theater, that concerns Michael Henry Adams, author of the forthcoming “Harlem Lost and Found, An Architectural and Social History: 1765-1915.”
Designed by the celebrated theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, the Victoria facade is ornamented with Ionic columns, anthemion leaves, lions’ heads, rosettes and rhytons — horn-shaped cups with animal heads. The Victoria is not a landmark but has been deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, Mr. Adams said. “It is the most architecturally distinguished theater to survive in central Harlem,” he said. “It shouldn’t be necessary to destroy what is special and unique about Harlem.”
