According to The New York Times, Olympia was a "massive gray stone building", and extended on Longacre Square, on 45th Street, and on 44th Street. It was made from Indiana limestone, featured an imposing façade, and followed French Renaissance designs. It was designed by J. B. McElfatrick & Son. The building was opened on November 25, 1895, with over 30 performers from Europe appearing. It was the second theatre to open in what is now known as the Theater District. The first was the Empire Theatre, on the Southeast corner of 40th Street and Broadway. The Olympia was later named the New York Theatre and Loew's New York. From 1914 to 1916 it operated as the Vitagraph Theatre, leased by the Vitagraph Company for prestige motion pictures including The Battle Cry of Peace. In 1935, architects Thomas W. Lamb and Eugene DeRosa redesigned the site. Historic sources are unclear as to whether some or all buildings in the complex were demolished and rebuilt, or the shells gutted and remodeled to build a nightclub/dancehall, the International Casino, and the Criterion Theatre, a cinema. In 1988, the Criterion was converted to a live theatre, the Criterion Center Stage Right, and from 1991 to 1999, the space was leased to Roundabout Theatre Company, a prominent non-profit theatre company. Notable productions during Roundabout's tenure at the Criterion include the 1993 revival of Eugene O'Neill's Anna Christie, and the 1995 revival of Stephen Sondheim'sCompany.
Current site use
In the early 2000s, Toys "R" Us built a flagship store on the site of the old Olympia. The multilevel store featured a 60-foot in-store Ferris Wheel and an animatronic T-rex among its attractons. Upon expiration of its lease, Toys "R" Us closed on December 30, 2015. The decision was attributed primarily to a rise in property values in Times Square that would increase its rent from $12 million to upwards of $42 million a year. In June 2015, Gap Inc. signed a lease for the property and expected to open stores for its Gap and Old Navy brands in 2017. The two stores account for 62,000 square feet of the 100,000-square-foot store. In July 2016, during the construction of the Gap and Old Navy flagship store, remnants of the original Olympia Theatre were found under the floors of Toys "R" Us.
