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An Apollonaut travel guide
A theatre street, remade.
An introduction to West 42nd Street, where Madame Tussauds New York stands among the theatres between Seventh and Eighth Avenues.
On this page
Read the street
Madame Tussauds New York is on the south side of West 42nd Street, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, a short walk west of Times Square.
A city guide can give context without turning a neighbourhood into a backdrop. Notice how older theatre fronts sit beside newer signs, and how the street changes from day to night.
Facades and signs
The museum’s 42nd Street front is the surviving facade of the Harris Theatre, designed by Thomas W. Lamb and opened in 1914 as the Candler.
Begin with a detail and ask how it was made, repaired and kept. A photograph alone cannot tell you who carved the stone or lit the signs, or the conditions in which they worked.
A 42nd Street chapter
The museum shows how 42nd Street was remade at the end of the twentieth century: old theatre sites turned into new attractions, with some of their fronts kept.
Look at the meeting of the two: a 1914 facade and a museum that opened in 2000.
Make room for context
Pair this city reading with the museum’s history and the Journal. This is an introduction for visitors, not a claim that our team manages these places, commissions their restoration or represents their makers.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
