Primary Accounts of the Interior and Exterior

    The first Chestnut Street Theatre (1794-1820) is described in detail in three accounts.

    • It was thought of as rather fine for its day, judging from an unattributed account in The New York Magazine or Literary Repository for April 1794.

    • The account of Moreau de Saint-Méry is somewhat less enthusiastic, but

    • Dr. James Mease waxes enthusiastic a few years after the 1805 completion of the building.