Hudson Theatre

Hudson Theatre (New York). One of Manhattan's many theatres stuck in limbo, this classically styled Beaux‐Arts playhouse on West 44th Street is infrequently used as a theatre venue, but its exterior has been designated a landmark so it is protected until better days come along. J. B. McElfatrick designed the 1,000‐seat theatre with such lovely details as marble columns and a glass ceiling with intricate metalwork. The Hudson was built by producer Henry B. Harris in 1903, but he died on the Titanic nine years later, and the playhouse suffered from years of shaky management. It was a CBS radio studio for a time in the 1930s and an NBC television studio in the 1950s, other times serving as a movie house, burlesque theatre, porn palace, and disco. A partial restoration was done on the interior in the 1980s, but the Hudson has yet to return to being a full‐fledged Broadway house.