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Lena Horne Theatre

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Lena Horne Theatre

The Lena Horne Theatre (previously the Mansfield Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 256 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. It was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a Spanish Revival style and was constructed for Irwin Chanin. It has 1,069 seats across two levels and is operated by the Nederlander Organization. Both the facade and the auditorium interior are New York City landmarks.

The facade is divided into two sections: the four-story stage house to the west, covered in buff-colored brick, and the three-story auditorium to the east, designed with yellow-beige brick and terracotta. The ground floor, which contains the theater's entrance, is shielded by a marquee. Above is a set of Palladian windows on the second story, as well as rectangular sash windows with lunettes on the third story. The facade is topped by an entablature and a sloping tiled roof. The auditorium contains ornamental plasterwork, a sloped orchestra level, a large balcony, and a coved ceiling. The balcony level contains box seats near the front of the auditorium, above which are murals.

Opening on February 15, 1926, the Mansfield Theatre was developed with the Biltmore (now Samuel J. Friedman) Theatre across the street, which had opened two months prior. The Mansfield struggled to attract hits from its opening until 1945 when Michael Myerberg bought it. In 1950, the Mansfield was leased to CBS for television productions under the name Studio 59. When Myerberg returned it to legitimate use in September 1960, he renamed it after the former New York Times theater critic Brooks Atkinson. The Nederlander Organization purchased a partial ownership stake in the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1967 and became a full owner in 1974. Following a renovation in 2000, the theater has hosted several shows in the 21st century, such as the musical Waitress and Six. On November 1, 2022, the theater was renamed after singer-actress and civil-rights activist Lena Horne.

The Lena Horne Theatre is at 258 West 47th Street, on the south sidewalk between Eighth Avenue and Broadway, near Times Square in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. The square land lot covers 10,050 square feet (934 m2), with a frontage of 100 feet (30 m) on 47th Street and a depth of 100 feet. The Lena Horne shares the block with the Paramount Hotel to the south and the Hotel Edison and Lunt-Fontanne Theatre to the east. Other nearby buildings include the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre to the north; the Ethel Barrymore Theatre and Longacre Theatre to the northeast; the Richard Rodgers Theatre and Imperial Theatre to the south; and the off-Broadway 47th Street Theatre to the west.

The Lena Horne Theatre, originally the Mansfield Theatre, was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in a modern Spanish style and was constructed in 1926 for the Chanin brothers. It is operated by the Nederlander Organization.

The facade consists of two sections. The three-story-tall eastern section is wider and is symmetrical, containing the auditorium entrance. It is made of yellow-beige brick with white terracotta decorations. The western section, which contains the stage house, is four stories high and contains a brick facade. The third story of the auditorium is on an intermediate level between the third and fourth stories of the stage house.

The first story of the auditorium's facade is symmetrically arranged. There is a water table made of terrazzo, above which are rusticated terracotta blocks made in ashlar. Several openings are placed within the first story. The easternmost opening contains recessed metal doors with sign boards. At the center are five metal double doors connecting with the box office lobby. The westernmost opening consists of a metal stage door. Sign boards are placed on the wall to the left (east) of the center openings, as well as on two of the double doors to the right (west) of center. A marquee hangs over the five center doorways and the immediate adjacent sign boards.

On the upper stories, the auditorium is arranged into three sections from left to right. The auditorium's outermost openings, on the second and third stories, have a single six-over-six sash window on either story. Lunettes with rosettes are placed above each of these windows. These windows are surrounded by a brick band, which is laid in a pattern resembling an arch. At the top of this arch is a molding with corbels, as well as a brick panel with bond work in a basket-weave pattern. Above this are terracotta friezes with fleur-de-lis and rosette patterns, topped by a brick parapet.

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