Symphony Space, founded by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller, is a multidisciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre (also called Peter Norton Symphony Space) and the 160-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia. Programs include music, dance, theater, film, and literary readings. In addition, Symphony Space provides literacy programs and the Curriculum Arts Project, which integrates performing arts into social studies curricula in New York City public schools. Symphony Space traces its beginnings to a free marathon concert, Wall to Wall Bach, held on January 9, 1978, organized by Isaiah Sheffer and Allan Miller. From 1978 to 2001 the theater hosted all New York productions by the New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players. As of 2010, Symphony Space hosts 600 or more events annually, including the annual free music Wall to Wall marathon; Bloomsday on Broadway (celebrating James Joyce's Ulysses); and Selected Shorts, which is broadcast nationally by Public Radio International. The New York company of Revels, Inc., also holds its shows there.

Early history of the building: From 1915 to 1917 Vincent Astor spent $750,000 of his personal fortune on the Astor Market, a two-story mini-mall of stands occupying the southwest corner of 95th Street and Broadway. It was intended to sell fruit, meat, fish, produce, and flowers at low prices by achieving economies of scale. As was common with Astor's building projects, flamboyance dominated the architecture, including a 290-foot William Mackay sgraffito frieze depicting farmers bringing their goods to market. The market proved a failure. In 1917 Astor sold the market to Thomas J. Healy. The stalls were demolished, the main space was converted into the Crystal Palace, a skating rink, and the smaller basement area became the Sunken Gardens, a restaurant. Both were eventually turned into movie theaters. The rink became Symphony Theater, and in 1931 the restaurant was turned into the Thalia Theater. Symphony Theater had an undistinguished history and by the 1970s was used for boxing and wrestling. The site was used for Wall to Wall Bach, which led Sheffer and Miller to lease the building and form Symphony Space.

The Thalia Theater was built by the experienced theater architect Raymond Irrera and his novice assistant Ben Schlanger. Schlanger introduced numerous innovations, including the "reverse parabolic" design for the floor. After World War II the Thalia gained a reputation as an arty repertory film theater. Its regular patrons included Woody Allen, Peter Bogdanovich, and Martin Scorsese. Woody Allen used it in his film Annie Hall. The Thalia closed in 1987, its future clouded by disputes between Symphony Space and various developers. After Symphony Space prevailed, the Thalia reopened briefly in 1993 and again in 1996. In 1999, Sheffer had the Art Deco interior gutted as unsalvageable, angering some neighborhood preservationists. The interior was used as a staging area for construction of a 22-story apartment building above Symphony Space. Afterwards it was rebuilt as a theater, and in 2002 the space reopened as the Leonard Nimoy Thalia in recognition of the actor's financial support. A sister movie theater, Thalia Soho, operated from 1987 until owner Richard Schwarz's death, then briefly operated as Le Cinematographe and later as the Soho Playhouse. In 2017, the theater and the apartments above were reportedly on the market.