The Erlanger as it appeared in September 4, 1927 at its grand opening.
The Erlanger as it appeared in September 4, 1927 at its grand opening.
The Statler Hotels built a theater across Delaware Avenue from its Statler Hotel in the mid-1920's. It was
designed by Warren & Wentworth and was leased to theatrical promoter, Abraham Lincoln Erlanger, who also
named the theater. The hotel intended that theater patrons enjoy dinner or supper at the Statler around their
evening event, and that is what happened over much of the Erlanger's 29-year career.
The same view in 2006.
The theater was designed solely for live, professional theater, i.e. the performance of plays. It seated 1,500 patrons, who
entered through mahogany doors into a lobby of Alabama cream marble and a soft green ceiling. The theater featured a
large crystal chandelier with 486 lights, 3 boxes on each side, and a tapestry curtain of gold and old rose. The mezzanine
was panelled in walnut and had cove lighting.
Traveling theatrical companies of the time included stars of the caliber not found in traveling companies in 2006. Buffalonians
in the 1920's and 1930's could see live performances by Basil Rathbone, Helen Hayes, Orson Wells, Ethel Waters,
Katharine Hepburn, the Barrymores, and Buffalo-born Katherine Cornell, among countless others. Attending a play here
was an event to be savored, and many associated an evening at the Erlanger with a night on New York's Broadway.
The shaded area is the Erlanger, a short walk across the street from the Statler, in 2006.
Unfortunately for the Erlanger, the post-World War II era brought changes in public tastes. Traveling theatrical
companies
stopped including Buffalo on their circuit after audiences dwindled and in 1956 the theater was
sold to an out-of-town developer who planned to demolish the building for a parking lot. Passionate
theater supporters halted this, but could not revive the professional theater environment in Buffalo. In
1959, Darwin R. Martin purchased the building, gutted it and transformed it into office space to be known
as "The 120 Building." Buffalo did not have professional live theater again until 1965, when the Studio Arena
Theater opened.
In 2006, the building awaits demolition, along with the nearby Chandler House, as the federal General
Services Administration prepares this corner of Niagara Square for construction of a new federal courthouse.
Details about the interior of the Erlanger were from the late George Kunz's story, "Remembering the Erlanger"
(Gone But Not Forgotten). For more information on the building's architecture, see Buffalo as an Architectural Museum.