PHOTO: Broadway Theatre Remains Found Under Former Toys 'R' Us Site

A recent article in Curbed New York reported on construction progress on the east side of Broadway, between 44th and 45th Streets, where the Times Square Toys 'R' Us recently stood.

Click here for the full article, which states that crews working on what was the store's ground floor have found the over 100-year-old foundations of a theatre that once occupied the site, along with an orchestra pit.

The location, which will soon be the home of a GAP/Old Navy retail store, is where theatre impresario Oscar Hammerstein I built his Olympia Theatre (see photo above), which opened in 1895 when the area was known as Longacre Square.

In 1935, the building was redesigned into the International Casino and the Criterion movie theatre and then in 1988 the Criterion Center Stage Right was built on the Olympia site, providing the first Broadway home for the then Off-Broadway Roundabout Theatre Company from 1991-1999.

The Curbed article caught the attention of arts administrator, advocate and writer Howard Sherman, who recently posted on Facebook how he walked by the site and found open construction doors, allowing him to snap the photo below of what he says may be part of the International Casino. Visit hesherman.com.