Palladium

Overview

The nightclub Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager built inside a former movie palace, with Arata Isozaki's steel-and-video interior, site-specific murals by Haring, Basquiat, Scharf, and Clemente, and Junior Vasquez's Arena among the last gay big-room nights before Giuliani-era closures.

The Palladium occupied a Thomas W. Lamb–designed building at 126 East 14th Street that had opened in 1927 as the Academy of Music movie palace, converted to a rock-concert hall in 1976 (The Band played opening night; the Clash's Paul Simonon smashed his bass here in September 1979 for the London Calling cover), then shuttered in 1982. In 1985 Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager (barely three years out of their Studio 54 federal tax conviction) leased the hulk and commissioned Japanese architect Arata Isozaki to gut and rebuild it. Isozaki's solution was to insert a freestanding steel structure (more than 200 tons) inside the 30-meter-high original shell, erecting the equivalent of a seven-story building within the restored proscenium. The result was a dual-space composition: a kinetic inner core housing the main dancefloor and encircling promenade walkways, and a refuge zone between old and new where the original ornamental plasterwork read as backdrop. Rubell and Schrager also commissioned site-specific works from four artists: Keith Haring painted a 10-meter-long mural of interlocking figures behind the main dancefloor; Jean-Michel Basquiat contributed neo-expressionist panels to the VIP bar known as the Michael Todd Room; Kenny Scharf installed an entire basement lounge (brightly colored furnishings, spray-painted surfaces, alien-landscape murals) called the Kenny Scharf Room; and Francesco Clemente created fresco passages at the staircase and entrance. Andy Warhol designed the complimentary drink tickets. The opening on May 31, 1985, was attended by Warhol, Haring, Halston, and Madonna, whose after-party for the closing night of her Virgin Tour at Madison Square Garden was held here in June 1985. The club had more speakers, video screens, lights, and simultaneous DJs than any other New York club of its moment. Rubell and Schrager operated the Palladium until 1992, when Peter Gatien (in a nine-month span that also saw him acquire leases on the Tunnel and construct Club USA) took over. Gatien reoriented the club toward the early-1990s house and circuit-party axis: resident DJs included Richard Sweret, Patrick Anastasi, and Luis Martinez. The most consequential programming of the Gatien era was Junior Vasquez's Arena, running Saturday nights and into Sunday mornings from September 1996. Promoted as 'The Gay Man's Pleasure Dome,' Arena drew an eclectic crowd while foregrounding the ballroom community: Kevin Aviance was a presiding figure on the floor, and the final Runway session featured Mother Juan Aviance and the House of Xtravaganza in vogueing and runway battles. Vasquez played marathon twelve-hour sets from a booth custom-suspended by Dolce & Gabbana at the height of his post–Sound Factory fame. Arena was among the last of the gay big-room nights before Mayor Rudy Giuliani's enforcement campaign shuttered the major clubs. NYU purchased the building in 1997 and closed the club in August of that year. In August 1998 the structure was demolished, destroying the Haring mural, the Basquiat panels, the Scharf room, and the Clemente frescoes, none of which had been removed or preserved. A twelve-story, 960-bed student residence hall named Palladium Hall opened on the site; it retains no visual reference to its predecessors.

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