Federal Street Theatre

Federal Street Theatre (Boston). Sometimes called the Boston Theatre, it was the first auditorium built in the city specifically for theatrical presentations. The theatre was erected from designs by the famous architect Charles Bulfinch and opened in 1794. A handsome brick structure with an arcaded front, it seated approximately one thousand people and was said by John Bernard to display “a taste and completeness that was worthy of London.” The theatre burned to the four walls in 1798 but was promptly rebuilt. Although it was sometimes plagued by mismanagement, it retained a virtual monopoly on Boston theatricals for nearly thirty years and continued to house drama after the arrival of competition from other houses. In the early 1870s it was converted into a business establishment but was totally destroyed by another fire shortly thereafter.