5th Avenue Theatre - Architecture

Architecture

Located in the Skinner Building, a historic office block ranging from five to eight stories with retail shops on the ground level, the theatre is surrounded on three sides, with its entry facing its namesake avenue. In addition to an auditorium with an original seating capacity of 3,000, the theatre contains a grand entry hall, and a mezzanine that once featured a tea room in addition to a waiting room and women's lounge.

The interior design of the 5th Avenue Theatre was modeled to reproduce some of the features of historic and well-known Beijing landmarks. The Norwegian artist Gustav Liljestrom executed the design based on his visit to China, and on Chinesische Architecktur, published in 1925, an illustrated account of Ernst Boerschmann's travels in China.

The ornate historical Chinese style of the theatre distinguishes itself from the Neo-Renaissance exterior of the Skinner Building. Only at the street entry under the marquee does the viewer get a preview of the interior design. Here, adorning the ceiling are plaster representations of wood brackets, beams, and carved reliefs painted in a polychromatic scheme and decorated with stenciled dragons and flower patterns. Carved cloud shapes screen light fixtures to create an indirect lighting effect as the viewer approaches the wooden, brass knobbed entry doors. The original central free-standing box office was replaced by the current box office located to the side of the entry as part of a 1979 renovation. The original Imperial guardian lions (Ruì Shī), commonly called foo dogs or foo lions, originally located outside the entry were moved inside as part of the 1979 renovation.

The interior architecture of the theatre is an "excellent imitation of Chinese wooden temple construction". The two story rectangular lobby features red, stenciled columns wrapped in plaster rising to a timbered roof structure of decoratively painted beams supporting a canopy of bamboo, also imitated in plaster. The original pair of guardian lions, both male, guard the stairway to a second level gallery that serves the theatre balcony. In addition to the Imperial guard lions, other original furnishings, light fixtures, and decoration remain intact.

The decorative details continue in the 2,130-seat auditorium, but the highlight and focal decorative feature is the octagonal caisson from which a sculpted five-toed Imperial Chinese dragon springs. A large chandelier of glass hangs from the dragon's mouth, in reference to the Chinese symbol of a dragon disgorging flaming pearls. One claim puts the size of this caisson at twice the size of the model on which it was based in the throne room of the Hall of Supreme Harmony in the Forbidden City. The opening night program spoke effusively of it:

... Its most imposing feature is the great dome...its symbolic themes borrowed from Chinese legends, its motifs from Chinese poetry. Coiled within an azure sphere and surrounded by glowing hues of cloud red, emblematic of calamity and welfare; blue of rain; green symbolic of plaque; black of flood; and gold of prosperity—is the Great Dragon, guardian genius of the place, his presence shadowed and multiplied in varying forms throughout the structure. On the huge beams surrounding and supporting the dome are five-clawed dragons—the Emperor's emblem—spitting fire in pursuit of the Jewel, rendered in the shape of a disc emitting effulgent rays, and symbolic of Omnipotence.

The dragon motif is repeated in the radial coffers of the caisson and the timbered coffers throughout the theatre. The Imperial dragon is accompanied by the symbol of the Empress, the Chinese phoenix (Fèng huáng), sometimes called Ho-Ho or Ho-Oh Bird from the Japanese. This personal symbol of the Empress is also repeated throughout the theatre, but most prominently in relief as part of the grills above false balconies that once screened organ pipes. In addition to these symbols, orange blossoms, chrysanthemums, and lotus flowers appear throughout the theatre. The highly decorated proscenium arch and safety curtain maintain the Chinese design influence.

Beyond the decorative features of the building, the 5th Avenue Theatre also contained notable technical features when originally built. An ascending orchestra pit and independent Wurlitzer organ platform allowed the musicians to be raised up to main stage height or to orchestra pit level from the basement below. The ventilation system had thermostatic controls throughout the building, and allowed the air to be 'washed' prior to its introduction into the venue at outlets under every third seat.