Casino Theatre

The story

The Casino Theatre was the first in New York to be lit entirely by electricity — a Moorish Revival landmark rising fifteen blocks north of where Broadway's theatre district then centered itself. Designed by Francis Hatch Kimball and Thomas Wisedell and built in 1882, it seated 875 before two expansions brought it to 1,300. It popularized the chorus line, introduced white audiences to African-American shows, and added New York's first roof garden in 1890. It hosted Florodora and The Desert Song before closing and being demolished in 1930, the same year.