Niblo's Garden
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Niblo's Garden was a former New York theatre on Broadway, near Prince Street. It was established in 1828 under the name of the Sans Souci and was later the property of William Niblo. The large theatre was twice burned and rebuilt. The name Niblo's Garden was used for more than a decade in association with a Bronx entertainment hall at Third Avenue and 170th Street that was later called the Bronx Lyceum.
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[edit] Evolution of Building Site
Niblo built Niblo's Theater in 1828 after having opened a resort which at first only served coffee and refreshments. At the time New York proper did not extend much past the locale of City Hall in 1895. The garden was once a part of the Bayard farm. It was sold in lots and purchased by Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. Prior to Niblo's acquisition of the land, a circus called the Stadium occupied the ground. There was a high fence around it. New Yorkers considered it a beautiful drive up to Niblo's through neighboring suburban farms.
Niblo decided to supplement the refreshments with more extensive entertainment. He erected the Grand Saloon, a small theater or concert hall. The program consisted solely of musical selections until vaudeville was introduced some time later. The admission to the garden in August 1829 was a mere fifty cents. During the afternoon and evening stages ran there from the City Hotel. The hotel was later the location of the Boreel Building at 115 Broadway.
During the summer of 1837 a vaudeville company was formed at Niblo's by Joseph Judson and Joseph Sefton. Farces like Promotion of the General's Hat and Meg Young Wife and Old Umbrella, played there. By the mid-19th century, the theatre was considered New York's most fashionable theatre.[1]
[edit] Second Niblo's Garden
The first theater at Niblo's Garden was destroyed by a fire on September 18, 1846. It was not rebuilt and opened until the summer of 1849. The theatre seated approximately 3,200 people and had the best-quipped stage in the city. Italian opera began to be produced there around 1850. Seats were sold at $2 each. Niblo's began to draw the most popular actors and plays. Some of the many players who performed there were E.L. Davenport, William Wheatley, Bennett Barrow, and Maggie Mitchell.
In the late 1860's, as post-Civil War business boomed, there was a sharp increase in the number of working and middle class people in New York, and these more affluent people sought entertainment. Theaters became more popular, and Niblo's began to offer light comedy. It mounted The Black Crook (1866), considered by many scholars to be the first musical comedy. This was followed by The White Fawn (1868), Le Barbe Blue (1868) and Evangeline (1873).[2]
[edit] Final Days
The theater was again destroyed by fire in 1872. It was rebuilt by A. T. Stewart.
The final performance at Niblo's Garden was given on March 23, 1895. A few weeks later the building was destroyed to make way for a large office structure erected by sugar-refining titan Henry O. Havemeyer. Only a bit earlier he had purchased the Metropolitan Hotel and the theater.
Some buildings from the 1800s still survive in the neighborhood, but Niblo's location is currently occupied by an office building.
[edit] References
- New York Times, Last of Niblo's Garden, March 24, 1895, Page 12.
- Description of the theatre at the Musicals101 website
- This article incorporates text from an edition of the New International Encyclopedia that is in the public domain.
