New York City theatergoers now have another venue in which to enjoy the latest stage productions. It is the recently rehabilitated New Amsterdam Theater on West 42nd Street.

The New Amsterdam, designed for the notorious theatrical management team of Klaw and Erlanger, first opened on October 26, 1903, to widespread critical acclaim. The theater’s architectural significance, particularly its sumptuous Art Nouveau interiors and its cantilever construction that permitted unobstructed views from all seats in the house, was officially recognized in 1980 when the structure was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Unfortunately, the New Amsterdam’s magnificent interior did not save it from sharing in the general decline of the neighborhood. The theater was finally abandoned in the 1980s and its once grand interior steadily deteriorated from neglect.

Then, in 1995, the Walt Disney Company established the New Amsterdam Development Corporation to rehabilitate the building for live stage productions. To help finance the project, the Corporation utilized the 20 per cent preservation tax incentives program for historic buildings. This program, administered by the National Park Service, is one of the most effective Federal programs to promote both urban and rural revitalization and encourage private investment in historic rehabilitation. The incentives have attracted private investment to historic cores of cities and towns, and, as exemplified in the New Amsterdam Theater, have restored life to abandoned or underutilized buildings in a manner that retains their historic character.

Information on the historic rehabilitation tax credit is available from the National Park Service’s Philadelphia Support Office and from the Technical Preservation Services Branch in Washington, DC, as well as from State Historic Preservation Offices. In particular, the recently revised NPS publication, Preservation Tax Incentives for Historic Buildings, provides a detailed discussion of the tax credit program. Additional information is available at the National Park Service’s “Links to the Past” web site under the “Help Yourself” heading.

The historic rehabilitation tax credit program is the largest Federal program supporting historic preservation, and has generated over $17 billion in historic preservation activity since its inception in 1976. During the past nineteen years, over 27,000 rehabilitation projects using preservation tax incentives have taken place nationwide. These projects have involved all types, sizes, and styles of structures, from simple rowhouses to mansions, from commercial properties to mills, and from high-rise office buildings to farm complexes.