Huntington Theatre opens.

Architect: J. Williams Beal. Originally the Repertory Theatre of Boston and designed in the Georgian Revival style, it is located at 264 Huntington Avenue. The theater seats 941 and opens with a performance of Sheridan’s The Rivals. Built for the Henry Jewett Players, a short-lived professional repertory company, the building also contains an oak-paneled 450-seat hall. It is renamed the Esquire Theatre and used as movie house, then renamed the Civic Repertory Theatre, featuring plays performed by out-of-work actors as part of the federal WPA project. The building is purchased by Boston University in 1953, becomes the Boston University Theatre in 1958, and, after formation of the Huntington Theatre Company, becomes the Huntington Theatre in 1982 and becomes independent of B.U. in 1986. The building is purchased by the Huntington Avenue Theatre on July 1, 2017, closes for renovation in 2019, and reopens in 2022.