"A view of the southeast corner of 45th Street, showing the portion of building containing Loew's New York Theatre, 1935."

In 1895 Oscar Hammerstein I opened the Olympia Theatre, which housed a theatre, a music hall, a concert hall, and a roof garden. The complex had two main auditorium spaces: the Olympia Music Hall and the Lyric. Hammerstein was forced to sell the theatre complex in 1898 under financial strain.The imposing French Renaissance building was sold at auction in individual sections, and those sections remained theatrical and cinematic venues under a variety of names over the next 40 years.

In this photograph, the darker building at left is the Loew's New York Theatre, which originally housed the Olympia Music Hall (thought it had been reduced in size after Hammerstein sold it). The building at the far right (on the north east corner of 44th Street, behind the large billboard) is the Criterion, which had been the original Lyric. Both buildings and the light colored stone structure at center made up the entire original Olympia complex.

In 1936 the entire blockfront was demolished, though some sources claim parts of the original structures was kept. At the south corner of 45th (at left) the International Casino was constructed, while at the north corner of 44th (at far right) a modern movie house called the Criterion was erected.