Charles Playhouse
- Architect
- Asher Benjamin
- Year
- 1839
- Style
- Greek Revival
- City
- Boston, MA
The building at 74 Warrenton Street began in 1839 as the Fifth Universalist Church, designed by Asher Benjamin, one of the era's most influential architects. In 1864 it became the second home of Congregation Ohabei Shalom, the first synagogue in Boston, before later becoming the speakeasy the Lido Venice and then the Southland, a Jazz Age ballroom and cafe that booked Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Jimmie Lunceford. It has housed the Charles Playhouse since 1958, after the company first opened at 54 Charles Street in 1957.
the building
From church to jazz club. Before it was a theater, the building cycled through some of Boston's most disparate uses: a Universalist church, then in 1864 the second home of Congregation Ohabei Shalom, then the Prohibition-era speakeasy the Lido Venice, then the Southland ballroom and cafe, which booked Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, and Jimmie Lunceford during the Jazz Age.
Two stages, two long runs. The building now holds an approximately 500-seat mainstage, longtime home to Blue Man Group, and a 200-seat second stage now branded as the comedy club Lil Chuck, which for 40 years hosted Shear Madness, one of the longest-running shows in American theater history.
the style
The building was constructed in 1839 in the Greek Revival style then standard for New England meetinghouses, designed by pattern-book author Asher Benjamin.
More on Greek Revivalthe architect
Asher Benjamin was an influential early American architect and pattern-book author; his 1839 design for the Fifth Universalist Church is the building's original form, still standing as the theater today.
significance
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
nearby
- Wilbur Theatre
- Wang Theatre
- Boston Young Men's Christian Union Building
- Hayden Building
- Boylston Building
- Gordon's Olympia Theatre