The Baudoine Building at 1181 Broadway was designed by Alfred Zucker for Charles Baudouine who was a successful cabinet maker who in his later life owned numerous commercial properties in Manhattan. The building was one of the first high-rise commercial structures built in this district. It has ten main floors, and is topped by a large, meticulously-detailed Greco-Roman temple.

Located at the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue, the Grand Opera House opened in 1868 by Samuel N. Pike.

In the 1880's, 23rd street was dotted with music halls and theaters between Fifth and Eighth Avenues. Frederick Francis Proctor built the Proctors Theater in 1888 on the site of the former Tabernacle Theatre. Inside, the 1,550 seat theater had electric lighting, gilded railings, velvet draperies and a gray-blue ceiling above red-toned walls.

At the northwest corner of 23rd Street and 6th Avenue was Bryant’s Opera House. When it was put up for sale in 1878, German-born Albert Bial and John Koster, who ran German-style concert hall and beer garden next door purchased the hall. The newly-named “Koster and Bial’s Music Hall” became 1200-seat vaudeville theatre.

In 1869, the great actor, Edwin Booth, opened his grand theatre to a design by Renwick & Sands at a cost of $1.5M in the Second Empire style. It was purchased for a mere $550,000 by James W. McCreery and converted to McCreery’s Dry Goods in 1895. In tribute to Booth’s grand theatre, McCreery commissioned a bronze relief bust of Shakespeare which was embedded into the façade. The magnificent building lasted until 1975 as loft space.

The first location of the Lyceum Theatre was located on the west side of Fourth Avenue between 23rd and 24th Streets.

Wallack's Theatre opened in 1882 as a theater by Lester Wallack. It was demolished in 1915.

The Imperial Music Hall/Weber & Field's Music Hall was formerly located at 1215 Broadway.

Formerly at 27-31 West 28th Street; sometimes referred to as 1185 Broadway was the New Fifth Avenue Theater.

Hoyt's Theater/Madison Square Theater/First 5th Avenue Theater was a Broadway theatre in Manhattan, on the south side of 24th Street between Sixth Avenue and Broadway (which intersects Fifth Avenue near that point.) It was built in 1863, operated as a theater from 1865 to 1908, and demolished in 1908 to make way for an office building. The Madison Square Theatre was the scene of important developments in stage technology, theatre design, and theatrical tour management. For about half its history it had other names including the Fifth Avenue Theatre, Daly’s Fifth Avenue Theatre, Hoyt’s Madison Square Theatre, and Hoyt’s Theatre.

Located on the southwest corner of Broadway and W. 30th Street, Daly's Theatre was built in 1867 as a 1,170 seat museum/theatre by John Banvard.3

The Bijou Theatre was opened in a former saloon in 1873. It was rebuilt in 1883 to the plans of architect John McElfatrick and opened in December 1883 as the Bijou Opera House. Originally built as a playhouse, the Bijou Theatre was later used for motion pictures and alterations were made in 1908 by Thomas Lamb. It closed in 1914 and the building was demolished shortly afterwards.

Harry Miner's Eighth Avenue Theatre marked the uptown expansion of his theatre chain. The idea of the "chain," which he originated and which was later duplicated by others, allowed transfers of complete productions between theatres. After Miner's death in 1900, his sons managed his empire. In 1902, the theatre burned down and was rebuilt. Later, it offered movies and burlesque, ending its life as a movie house.

Abbey's Park Theatre was built in 1874 for Dion Boucicault. In 1876, Henry E. Abbey was the manager but it burnt down in 1882.

The Manhattan Theatre (Minnie Maddern Fiske) was located at 102 West 33rd Street. The Manhattan Theatre, directly across from Greeley Square at Sixth Avenue and 33rd Street, was located at 102 West 33rd Street, in New York, NY. It was a 1,100-seat theatre which opened in 1875 as the Eagle Variety Theatre, and later renamed the Standard Theatre in 1878. All but destroyed by a fire in 1883, it was re-built in a more modern style and re-opened in December, 1884. In 1898, the Standard was re-furbished by architect Howard Constable and renamed the Manhattan. The Manhattan Theatre became a frequent venue for the theatrical performances of Minnie Maddern Fiske, one of the most famous actresses of the 1890s and early 1900s, renowned for her performances in Ibsen’s plays. Mrs. Fiske also controlled as manager and directed plays for the Manhattan Theatre as she had her company in residence for several years. Among Mrs. Fiske's many performances was the leading role in Miranda of the Balcony, a play written by Anne Crawford Flexner, based on the novel by A.E.W. Mason. Produced at the Manhattan Theatre on September 24, 1901, it starred Mrs. Fiske, J.E. Dodson, Emily Stevens, Max Figman, Frank McCormack, Bessie Harris and Mary Maddern. It was directed by Mrs. Fiske and Max Figman. In 1909, the Manhattan was demolished to make way for Gimbels department store, a structure that still stands today but has been converted into a shopping mall.

Garrick/Harragan's Theater was located at 67 West 35th Street. It was built to designs by Francis H. Kimball in 1890 for Harrigan & Hart. It burned down in 1932.

One of the most venerable restaurants in 1946 was Cavanagh's on West 23rd Street. The sign over the door proudly dated the establishment to 1876, which was a bit of a stretch. There had been a twelve-table clam bar named Kenny's at 258 West 23rd Street back then but John J. Cavanagh did not buy it until 1894. He was only 10 years old in 1876. Still, it boasted of having served a roster of turn-of-the- century notables like Jim Fiske, Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell when Chelsea was still a relatively fashionable address and the city's epicenter had moved from Fourteenth Street to Herald Square. It remained popular even as the city moved uptown and the neighborhood went into decline in the first half of the twentieth century. leaving pockets of relative affluence, like London Terrace, surrounded by urban decay. Most of its competitors had been done in by Prohibition but since Cavanagh's did not have a bar, it did not depend on the sale of alcohol to survive. In 1946 patrons cherished it as a nostalgic remnant of old New York.

In 1886, Koster and Bial commissioned German architects Herman J. Schwarzmann and Albert Buchman to build a saloon and retail outlet for their beer bottling business a block north at the corner of 24th Street and 6th Avenue. The saloon was dubbed “The Corner”.

Since 1857 Henri and Louis Mouquin had operated a stylish French restaurant downtown known as Chez Mouquin. In 1898 they leased the old Knickerbocker Cottage and rechristened it Mouquin's Cafe de Bordeaux.

The Madison Square location of Delmonico's Restaurant was located at 212 Fifth Avenue.

Designed by Henry Engelbert for Elias S. Higgins, a prosperous carpet manufacturer and merchant, the building opened as the Grand Hotel in 1868.

The Albemarle Hotel was located in New York City at the junction of Broadway, Fifth Avenue, and 24th Street, facing Madison Square. Its location was convenient to theatres, churches, halls, clubs, and retail stores.

Completed in 1859 by Amos R. Eno, the Fifth Avenue Hotel at 200 Fifth Avenue, whose gleaming white-marble housed 100 apartment suites, was the first American hotel with an elevator and private bathrooms, as well as a fourth meal, or "late supper", and was a popular meeting place for politicians, brokers and speculators. Because of its opulence, as well as its location at the far uptown edge of the city, it was dubbed "Eno's Folly".

The Brunswick, at East 26th Street and Fifth Avenue, was the hotel favored by the horsey set. The male-only New York Coaching Club, established in 1875 by Col. Delancey Astor Kane and William Jay, was headquartered there, and elevated "four-in-hand" carriage riding to an art form. Holding the reins of all four horses in one fist, the drivers ("whips") guided their horses from the Brunswick to the carriage drives in Central Park and staged parades twice a year.

The St. James Hotel at Broadway and East 26th Street, where the St. James Building would later stand, was built in 1874. With its 30 parlors, bar, cigar stand, barber shop, dining room and full-service amenities, the hotel served the needs of mid- to late-nineteenth-century business and upscale clientele. The hotel was the site of a Confederate arson attack during the American Civil War. It was the first of 20 buildings to go up in flames in a coordinated effort by Confederate forces on November 25, 1864.