Apollo Theater
theater and music venue in Harlem, New York City
The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use theater at 253 West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a popular venue for Black American performers and is the home of the TV show Showtime at the Apollo. The theater, which has approximately 1,500 seats across three levels, was designed by George Keister with elements of the neoclassical style. The facade and interior of the theater are New York City designated landmarks and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The nonprofit Apollo Theater Foundation (ATF) operates the theater and a recording studio at the Apollo Theater, as well as two smaller auditoriums at the Victoria Theater.
The Apollo was developed by theatrical producers Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon as a burlesque venue in 1913, and originally served only white patrons. In 1928, the Minsky brothers leased the theater for their own burlesque shows. Sydney Cohen acquired the theater in 1934, and it became a venue for black performers. Frank Schiffman and his family operated the theater from 1935 to 1976. A group of black businessmen briefly operated the theater from 1978 to 1979, and former Manhattan borough president Percy Sutton bought it at an auction in 1981.
The public source identifies “Apollo Theater” as theater and music venue in Harlem, New York City. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Apollo, Theater and theater.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Apollo Theater”, the useful work is to connect “theater and music venue in Harlem, New York City” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 31, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q619124. VIAF identifies the subject as 147521727. The Library of Congress control number is sh2007005748. Authority coordinates are 40.810, -73.950. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 2 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1913, 1928, 1934 and 1935.
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This entry incorporates text from “Apollo Theater” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.