Klaw and Erlanger developed the New Amsterdam Theatre, and Herts & Tallant designed it. It was built from 1902 to 1903 and opened on October 26, 1903. The exterior is Beaux-Arts with Art Nouveau elements, and the interior is Art Nouveau. A ten-story office tower on 42nd Street rises 150 feet.
The elliptical auditorium is 86 feet wide and 90 feet long, with two balconies cantilevered above the orchestra and a dome 80 feet above the floor. The stage is 60 by 100 feet. The Ziegfeld Follies were produced there from 1913 to 1927, and it became a movie theater in 1937.
Disney leased and renovated the theater from 1995 to 1997, by Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer. It is a New York City landmark and is on the National Register of Historic Places.
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