Opened in 1929, the Beacon Theatre was developed by Samuel "Roxy" Rothafel and built as a movie palace, with 2,894 seats across three levels.

The theater started presenting live entertainment in 1966, and Steven Singer and Barry Kerr renovated it into a rock venue in 1974.

Following a failed attempt to convert the Beacon into a nightclub and restaurant in 1986, the theater remained in use as a live music and entertainment venue.

[2][5][6] The Beacon's auditorium is mostly along the rear of the hotel, facing Amsterdam Avenue to the east and 75th Street to the north, although the main entrance is on Broadway to the west.

Above the theater's marquee, the hotel building contains arched windows on the second floor and a brick facade on upper stories.

[16] East of the outdoor ticket booth are glass and metal doors, topped by transom windows, which lead to an indoor vestibule.

The rotunda ceiling is as high as the auditorium itself; it contains moldings of rosettes and coffers, as well as a large chandelier hanging from its center.

Each bay contains a piece of a mural by Kjoldgaard; according to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, these represent "oriental scenes with caravans of elephants, camels, and traders".

[12][19] The ceiling above the front of the auditorium contains a red, gold, green, and blue color scheme and is designed to resemble the draped roof of a tent.

[26][27][28] The Beacon is one of three theaters in Manhattan that retains its original organ, along with Radio City Music Hall and the United Palace.

Relatively few architects were responsible for these theaters' designs, including Walter Ahlschlager, Thomas W. Lamb, C. Howard Crane, and John Eberson.

[49] The renamed Warner's Beacon Theatre opened on December 24, 1929, with the talking picture Tiger Rose featuring Lupe Vélez.

[59] The Beacon largely continued to produce straight pictures, but it also broadened its offerings to radio broadcasts, such as Tru Blu Beer's Broadway Bandwagon in 1935.

[60] To recruit soldiers during World War II, the United States Army exhibited a mortar and a machine gun in the Beacon's rotunda lobby while playing a short film in the auditorium.

[72] Starting in 1962, the Beacon also showed United Artists pictures through the UA's "Premiere Showcase";[73] the first film shown under this program was Hong Kong.

[109] The operator of the planned nightclub, Olivier Coquelin, said he and his architect Charles A. Platt (a former LPC commissioner) had chosen the Beacon Theatre for conversion specifically because of its landmark status.

[123] In September 1987, a New York Supreme Court judge overturned the LPC's approval of the conversion on the grounds that it would threaten the quality of the theater's architecture.

[8] Beyer Blinder Belle was hired for the project, fixing longstanding issues such as a leaking roof and damage to original decorations.

[16][141] The workers restored features such as the Broadway ticket booth, which had been painted over numerous times, and the chandelier above the auditorium, which had been hanging from a coffee tin.

[142] The Beacon's lighting system was upgraded in 2014 to accommodate the venue's events, which at the time included concerts, comedy, broadcasts, and film screenings.

[147] By 2006, the theater hosted about 70 performances a year; box-office figures were available for 52 of these events, which collectively grossed $8 million and had 136,000 total patrons.

[168] In the early 1990s, the Beacon hosted such musical offerings as folk-rock duo Indigo Girls,[169] a rock-and-soul revue,[170] a concert with several country performers,[171] singer Tracy Chapman,[172] pop rock band Crowded House,[173] and gospel singers BeBe Winans and CeCe Winans.

[174] The latter half of the decade saw appearances by performers including rock musician Ian Anderson,[175] jazz tenor Sonny Rollins,[176] Italian blues singer Zucchero Fornaciari,[177] as well as a classical music concert.

[185] Artists who performed at the Beacon in the 2010s included Goldfrapp,[186] Fiona Apple,[187] Cat Stevens,[188] Nick Mason's Saucerful of Secrets,[189] The Tragically Hip,[190] and Coldplay.

[212][213] The first live show in the Beacon's modern history was the Yiddish vaudeville Bagels & Yox, which closed after two days in 1967.

[218] During that era, the Beacon also hosted another performance of Socrate alongside the opera Four Saints in Three Acts,[219] as well as an Elizabeth Swados musical with a cast composed entirely of children.

[224] Michaele Vollbracht held a fashion show at the Beacon in 1982, although the theater's stage was poorly equipped to host such events.

[227] Live performances in the 1990s included a production of the musical The Wiz with an all-Black cast in 1993[228][229] and a comedy routine by Sandra Bernhard in 1994.

[247] Joan Baez celebrated her 75th birthday with a concert at the theater on January 27, 2016, which was broadcast on PBS's Great Performances and released on CD and DVD.

For example, in 1975, the theater hosted a jazz concert to fund opposition to Riverside Church's planned sale of its radio station WRVR-FM.