{"nrhp_refnum":"84002788","name":"Mecca Temple","other_names":["City Center 55th Street Dance Theater"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"131 N. 55th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.764026098000045,"lon":-73.97948716599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1984-09-07","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Mecca Temple (City Center of Music and Drama) is a mid-block theater and lodge building at 131 West 55th Street in Manhattan, running through to West 56th Street. It was designed by Harry P. Knowles for the Shriners and built in 1922-24.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is a distinctive, intact example of fraternal architecture in New York City. Its Moorish-inspired design, with an alfiz, horseshoe arches and the scimitar and crescent motif, expresses the Shriners' heritage while reflecting the building's varied functions. It also housed City Center of Music and Drama from 1943, an early case of local government subsidizing the arts, and continues as a dance theater.","narrative":"Mecca Temple is a large theater and lodge building at 131 West 55th Street in Manhattan, extending through the block to West 56th Street. Harry P. Knowles designed it for the Shriners, and it was built in 1922-24. The 55th Street front is a sandstone cube topped by a green-glazed tile dome, with an arcade of nine horseshoe arches, polychrome glazed terra cotta and the scimitar and crescent motif. A twelve-story brick tower on 56th Street held lodge rooms and offices, and the 3,000-seat auditorium has Moorish-inspired interior decoration. The design is valued as a rare, well-preserved example of fraternal architecture, with decoration that signals the order's Middle Eastern heritage and a layout that reflects its uses. After financial troubles in the 1930s, the city acquired the property, and in 1943 the City Center of Music and Drama opened here. It later became a home for dance companies and still operates as a dance theater.","period_of_significance":"1900- (specific dates 1922-24)","architect_builder":"Harry P. Knowles","architectural_style":"Moorish-inspired (described as \"Saracenic,\" \"Moorish-Baroque\" and \"modified Arabian\")","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a dance theater; condition listed as excellent and altered, with the interior seating pitch and rear auditorium wall rebuilt recently to improve sight lines.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:42.29451-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/84002788.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002788/310afd7fcf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/84002788/310afd7fcf-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"https://www.flickr.com/people/hisgett/","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Center_4671782648_35bbe45b86.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">https://www.flickr.com/people/hisgett/</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYC_Center_4671782648_35bbe45b86.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319726","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Center","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q535631"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/mecca-temple-84002788/"}