Eugene De Rosa

Eugene De Rosa (born Eugenio De Rosa; 1894 – ) was an Italian American architect. He worked in New York City and specialized in the design of theatres.

De Rosa's business flourished from 1918 to 1929, particularly during the Roaring Twenties, but it largely declined during the Great Depression. During the 1930s he spent some years in London and settled for a while in Naples. Toward the end of World War II he was reported to be back in New York and beginning to work on post-war theatre projects, just before his death.

Early life De Rosa was born in Calabria, in the far south of mainland Italy, in 1894. While he was a small child, his parents emigrated to the United States, arriving through Ellis Island and settling in New York City, where they were living by 1898. De Rosa had four brothers, Felix, Jerry, Vincent, and John; and a sister, Sylvia. His brother Felix also became an architect.

Career By 1918, De Rosa was practicing as an architect, quickly choosing to specialize in theatre design. An early project was his Vanderbilt Theatre, New York (1918). By 1919 he was in a partnership called "De Rosa & Pereira", and that year he represented several clients in appeals against decisions of the superintendent of buildings of the City of New York.

During the 1920s, De Rosa obtained many more commissions for new theatres. The great driving force during his Roaring Twenties career was "the phenomenal growth in popularity of motion pictures", and his early work included the Times Square Theatre (1920), the Apollo Theatre on 42nd Street (1920), and Klaw Theatre (1921). One important design for a site on Hyatt Street in St. George, Staten Island, provided not just a grand new theatre, the St. George Theatre, but also stores and offices.

De Rosa's business was largely destroyed by the Great Depression of the 1930s, His brother Felix De Rosa, also an architect, sold insurance during the Depression. However, his death in 1945 prevented the revival of his career.

Another surviving work is the Broadway Theatre, built in New York City in 1924, and originally known as the "B. S. Moss's Colony Theatre".

Gallo Opera House in New York City, built in 1927 for Fortune Gallo, was renamed as the Gallo Theatre, then Studio 52, and since 1977 has been known as Studio 54, a nightclub and theatre.

De Rosa's huge 2,800-seat St. George Theatre in St. George, Staten Island, begun in 1928, cost $500,000 for the theatre alone and was part of a greater development project (an office complex is attached) worth some $2,000,000. The theatre opened on December 4, 1929, only weeks after the Wall Street crash of 1929, and remains in use. It is now owned by St. George Theatre Restoration Inc., a non-profit organization which aims to restore the building and to develop it as a performing arts and cultural center. Most of the ornate interior was designed not by De Rosa but by Nestor Castro.

List of theatres 43rd Street Theatre, Sunnyside, Queens (1938), closed 1952 Apollo Theatre, 126 Clinton St, New York (1926), closed after 1950, demolished Apollo Theatre, 42nd Street, New York (1920; demolished 1996) Bijou Theatre, 193 Avenue B, New York (1926), renamed Charles Theatre (1950), closed 1972, is now a church Cameo Theatre, 138 West 42nd, New York (1921), renamed Bryant (1938), 1970s became an adult film, closed in 1983 Central Theatre, Jersey City (1920; closed in the 1960s and is now defunct) Coliseum Theatre (Washington Heights), 4260 Broadway, New York (1920) Corona Theatre, Corona, Queens (1927), closed 1956 Embassy Theatre, 1560 Broadway, New York, (1925) Gallo Opera House, New York (1927), later renamed Studio 54 Inwood Theatre, 132 Dyckman New York (1927), closed after 1955 Kent Theater, Bronx, New York, (mid 1930s), sold 1991 Klaw Theatre, 251–257 West 45th Street, New York (1921); Lafayette Theatre, Suffern, New York (1924, still in use) Missouri Theatre, St. Louis, Missouri New Cataract Theatre, Niagara Falls St. George Theatre, St. George, Staten Island (1928–1929, still in use) Times Square Theatre, New York (1920; still standing, but not in use) Uptown Theatre, 4037 Broadway, New York (1926), converted into a supermarket in 1955.