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An Apollonaut travel guide
The place behind the detail.
A wax modeller born in 1761, a London museum and a 1914 theatre front offer several ways into the story of Madame Tussauds New York.
On this page
Marie Tussaud
Born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg in 1761, Marie Tussaud learned wax modelling from Philippe Curtius and made her first figure, of Voltaire, in 1777.
By 1835 she had settled her exhibition on Baker Street in London, and in 1884 the collection moved into galleries on Marylebone Road.
A theatre on 42nd Street
The New York museum stands on the site of the Harris Theatre, which opened in 1914 as the Candler and was designed by Thomas W. Lamb.
The theatre was demolished in 1997–1998, but its 42nd Street facade survives and has fronted Madame Tussauds New York since it opened in November 2000.
A museum of likenesses
Today the museum is run by Merlin Entertainments, which acquired the Tussauds Group in 2007. Its themed areas present figures from music, film, television, sport and politics.
This history belongs to the place and the people who shaped it. The History page offers a longer introduction, and the timeline gives a short route through selected milestones.
Read at the source
Sources & further reading
Links lead to the original publishers.
