Nearly 30 blocks North of its original home, in a small garden below street level, beside the garbage cans, sits the last remaining piece of that celebrated structure.
The Ziegfeld Theatre was named for the famed Broadway impresario Florenz Ziegfeld, who built it with financial backing from William Randolph Hearst. It was a fanciful structure, a masterpiece of Art Deco design by Joseph Urban. During its time as one of the great Broadway Houses it was the premiere home to such shows as Showboat.
In the 30's Broadway declined, and The Ziegfeld was sold to the Loew's corporation and used as a movie house, and later as the NBC television studios. The Perry Como Show broadcast from its stage, as well as the Emmy Awards from 1959 to 1961.
But by 1966 the Ziegfeld was an empty shell, purchased by real estate developers so that the land could be used for a skyscraper. The Ziegfeld was rebuilt as a movie house, a few blocks from its original site, but even though it is one of the nicer places in the city to see a movie... it isn't the same as the original by any stretch of the imagination.
Only two things from the original structure remain: A time capsule that was originally in the cornerstone, which is now housed at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center... and this piece.
Once you've found the cache move just a bit East down the block, past the steps of the brownstone, and have a look down in the garden. You won't be able to miss it: a 5' tall Art Deco bust! Now close your eyes and imagine what the entire building must have looked like, with even that small piece to extrapolate from.
How did it come to be here? This brownstone was once owned by Jerry Hammer, a theatrical producer in his own right, and in the 1960s, he was riding past the Ziegfeld in a car with developer Zachary Fisher, who mentioned he was tearing it down. Hammer jokingly asked if he could have one of the limestone heads. Four months later, he heard noises outside of his Upper East Side home – it was a truck lowering the head by crane into his front yard. Hammer moved out in 1998 but left the head behind, and it has been part of the landscape of this block, and New York City history, ever since.
THE ACTUAL BUST IS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY, PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO GO DOWN INTO THE GARDEN WHERE THE BUST IS. IT IS COMPLETELY VISIBLE FROM THE SIDEWALK. THE CACHE IS CLOSE BY.