The opulent Radio City Music Hall is known for its year-round performances and mesmerizing Rockettes. However, the 86-year-old building is riddled with secret spaces and hidden rooms—one being a secret apartment.
Known as the Roxy Suite, the space once belonged to the theater’s impresario Samuel “Roxy” Rothafel. Since his death in 1936 the apartment, which is located on the fifth floor, had been forgotten and untouched until recently.
With an over-the-top Art Deco style that matches the theater below it, the suite was not only his living quarters but a space intended to entertain the elite. Roxy hosted famous guests such as Judy Garland, Walt Disney, and Samuel Goldwyn—some of whom can be seen in photos displayed within the room.
The apartment itself is luxury to the maximum, featuring 20-foot-high gold leaf ceilings, custom-made wooden furniture, walls covered in lavish drapery, and marble all coming together to create an Art Deco aesthetic that parallels the rest of the building’s design. Aside from the entertainment room the apartment has an office, kitchen, dining room, and bedroom on a raised floor. The dining room is a perfect dome intended to make it easier for guests to speak to each other across the table and hear one another with ease above the noise of whatever performance is taking place on the stage below.
Today, the Roxy Suite is open again, but only to the elite it was intended for from its inception. It opens for special occasions and looks as it did in 1936. Jon Legend, Anderson Cooper, and Cyndi Lauper are among the famous who have visited this unique piece of NYC history. It can also be rented out for private events, and as of recently has been added to the Radio City Music Hall tour!
