Three Broadway venues and one Off-Broadway house were named winners of the 2025 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards. Presented by the New York Landmarks Conservancy, the awards acknowledge excellence in preservation. The Shubert Organization’s Booth and Shubert theaters, the Nederlander Organization’s Palace Theatre and Off-Broadway’s New Victory Theater will be honored at a ceremony on April 22 at 6 p.m. at the Edison Ballroom in Manhattan.
“The ‘Lucys’ celebrate amazing preservation projects from throughout the City that might otherwise remain unheralded,” said Conservancy president Peg Breen in a statement. “It’s a lively evening showcasing the vision, determination and love people have for their historic properties.”
Built simultaneously from 1912 to 1913, the Booth and Shubert theaters, from their respective 45th and 44th Street locations, lay adjacent to one another in Shubert Alley. Recent restoration to their Venetian Renaissance style facades, led by architecture firm Façade Maintenance and Design, rendered the venues’ historic sgraffito enhanced and more vibrant. Sgraffito is a technique of scratching through a layer of plaster to reveal an underlying coating; in the case of the Booth and Shubert, an unexpected third color was revealed, adding visible-from-the-street depth to the facades’ anticipated two-toned elements.
The Palace Theatre reopened in 2024 following a multiyear hiatus during which PBDW Architects spearheaded lifting the 112-year-old venue 30 feet to allow for new street-level retail space. The feat preserved the facade of the vaudeville-house-turned-legit theater, reinforced both interior and exterior parts of the venue and addressed existing design flaws. The restoration included a constant stabilization process, making plaster molds of every ornamental element and cataloging salvaged items for future preservation.
Easton Architects recently completed a restoration of the New Victory Theater’s decorative dome, featuring angelic sculptures, which sits over the audience and stage. The 125-year-old house operates under the auspices of New 42, and has presented children’s theater since 1995.
The Shubert and Palace are the current homes of the 2024 Best Musical Tony Award nominee “Hell’s Kitchen” and the new revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” respectively. The Booth will host the upcoming Broadway premiere of “John Proctor Is the Villain.”
