Columbia Theatre (New York City)

Columbia Theatre
Columbia Amusement Company Building and Columbia Theatre in 1910
Map
Address701 Seventh Avenue, Manhattan, New York
New York City
United States
Coordinates40°45′33″N 73°59′03″W / 40.759237°N 73.984139°W / 40.759237; -73.984139
OwnerColumbia Amusement Company
Capacity1,385 seats
Construction
OpenedJanuary 10, 1910 (1910-01-10)
Closed1928
Demolished2013
ArchitectWilliam H. McElfatrick

The Columbia Theatre was an American burlesque theater on Seventh Avenue at the north end of Times Square in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Operated by the Columbia Amusement Company between 1910 and 1927, it specialized in "clean", family-oriented burlesque, similar to vaudeville. Many stars of the legitimate theater or of films were discovered at the Columbia. With loss of audiences to cinema and stock burlesque, the owners began to offer slightly more risqué material from 1925. The theater was closed in 1927, renovated and reopened in 1930 as a cinema called the Mayfair Theatre. It went through various subsequent changes and was later renamed the DeMille Theatre. Nothing is left of the theater.