Westside Theatre

You are approaching a building that has led several lives, beginning in eighteen ninety as the Second German Baptist Church. Designed by architect Henry Franklin Kilburn, this Romanesque Revival structure served a religious congregation for over seventy years before its architectural details were repurposed for an entirely different kind of gathering. By the late nineteen sixties, the former sanctuary had transformed into Club Sanctuary, a discotheque that became a notable, albeit short-lived, fixture of the New York nightlife scene before closing its doors in nineteen seventy-two. This dramatic transition from a house of worship to a dance floor provides the unique, multi-layered foundation for the intimate performance venue you see today.