Palace Theatre

The story

To play the Palace was vaudeville's highest ambition — every performer measured their career against this one stage. Funded by Martin Beck and designed by Milwaukee architects Kirchhoff & Rose, it opened in 1913 at the north end of Times Square. Through the 1910s and 1920s it served as the flagship of the Keith-Albee organization, the era's dominant vaudeville empire. The RKO years turned it into a movie palace, but the ornate plasterwork and two sloping balconies endured. The Nederlander Organization took ownership in 1965, and the auditorium remains a designated New York City landmark.