View of the New Theatre in New York

A View of the New Theatre in New York, year depicted: late 1796 or first half of 1797. Source: New York Public Library. The New-York Theatre, later called Park Theatre, was under construction at the time (it was roofed by September, 1796) and opened on January 29, 1798, still under construction.

It was not exactly drawn from nature, once the painting by Charles Cotton Milbourne, dated 1798, shows a slightly different façade of the building, without the eagle frieze at the pediment, different ironwork in the balcony and only six Corinthian columns instead of the ten columns in the drawing above. It appears that the entrance flight of steps actually constructed was the width of the five central doors, rather than the width of the entire structure as depicted by Tisdale.

The spire on the right belongs to the Middle Dutch Church (not the North Dutch Church, as some authors claim. Its spire was added later in 1823).

Although inscribed "J. Allen sc[ulpsit]" this does not appear to be an engraved illustration, but a drawing or sketch. The lack of straight lines and differences in the intensity of the lines are proof of this. This could be thought of as the original drawing which served as the basis for the engraving of the New Theatre published in Longworth's City Directory of 1797. However, the indication of the engraver on an original drawing is unusual. This is probably a copy of an engraving.

The copy of the Directory from the New York Public Library (on the right) shows an engraving drawn and engraved by Tisdale, no mention to J. Allen. The shadow line on the left and the angle of view on both, the drawing above and the engraving, are the same, but the engraving is missing some chimneys.

According to John M. Kleeberg (The Theatre at New York, 1994), the New York City directories in this period were made to be ready by the fourth of July, meaning that the drawing above was made in the first half of 1797 or earlier. Kleeberg wrote that the Longworth's 1797 New York City directory exists in at least two versions, the New York Public Library copy being the earlier version and the American Antiquarian Society copy of the directory is probably the second version, which is signed 'J. Allen sc[ulpsit] Tisdale del[inavit]".

Elkanah Tisdale (1768-1835) was born in Connecticut and moved to New York City in 1794. He was back to Connecticut in 1798. The engraver Joel Allen (1755-1825) was also from Connecticut. No doubt that all illustrations mentioned above were based on the Elkanah Tisdale's original drawing or a copy of it and others appeared later.

The American Historical Record, March, 1872, edited by Benson J. Lossing, published an engraving (on the right), which was certainly based on the Tisdale drawing or a copy of it, although the name of the artist was not mentioned. The author wrote it was "a reduced copy of a rare print of the first Park Theatre, in New York, kindly lent for the purpose, by Mr. H. F. Sewall, of that city".

Another engraving was published in the Appletons' Journal, November, 23, 1872 (on the right), engraved by James H. Richardson (1823–1903), which title is: First Park Theatre. Fac-simile of an Etching in the New-York Historical Society, 1796.

It is also believed that the Theatre at New York penny token (left), probably issued in 1797 or 1798, shows a simplified version of the view of the "New Theatre" drawn by Tisdale.

The New-York Theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1820 and the second Park Theatre was built with a much simpler façade on the same site.

by Jonildo Bacelar