The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940. on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. However, the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment, and the project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues, but Rockefeller made a deal with RCA to develop Rockefeller Center as a mass media complex with four theaters.
Planning
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall | Planning
It was built on the basis of blueprints by Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban with endowment from John D. Rockefeller Jr. Sorry. I cannot find the answer based on the context. Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey John D. Rockefeller Jr.
what disney movie is the evil queen from
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"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"
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what is this movie about ?
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It is a story about a lonely princess Snow White living with her stepmother who worries that Snow White will be more beautiful than her and gets jealous. She then plots to kill her, but eventually fails.
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who are the main characters from this movie ?
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Snow White, Evil Queen, a Huntsman and seven dwarves are the main characters.
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what are the names of the dwarves ?
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Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey
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when was this movie released ?
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1937
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what genre of film is this  ?
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Animated musical fantasy
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are there any theme parks based on this film ?
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Snow White's Scary Adventures is a popular theme park ride at Disneyland, Tokyo Disneyland, and Disneyland Paris. The Seven Dwarfs Mine Train roller coaster is a ride in Fantasyland.
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any broadway musicals based on this film ?
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"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (also known as "Snow White Live!") at the Radio City Music Hall.
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when was the above mentioned hall established ?
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1932
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who built this hall ?
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In September 1931, a group of NBC managers and architects went to tour Europe to find performers and look at theater designs. However, the group did not find any significant architectural details that they could use in the Radio City theaters. In any case, Roxy's friend Peter Clark turned out to have much more innovative designs for the proposed theaters than the Europeans did.
Radio City Music Hall | Planning
The current design was put forth by Raymond Hood, who incidentally derived his band-system idea from a book that Urban had written. The walls are covered by intricate fabric silhouette patterns of performers and horses, which were created by Reeves. The radiating arches of the proscenium unite the large auditorium, allowing a sense of intimacy as well as grandeur. The ceiling arches also contain grilles that camouflage the air conditioning and the auditorium's sound system.
Radio City Music Hall | Auditorium
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Nicknamed the Showplace of the Nation, it is the headquarters for the Rockettes, the precision dance company. Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House. The opera house plans were canceled in 1929, leading to the construction of Rockefeller Center. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. One of the more notable parts of the Music Hall is its large auditorium, which was the world's largest when the Hall first opened.
Radio City Music Hall | Introduction
One month later, on May 12, Radio City Music Hall was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Plans for a 20-story mixed-use tower above the Radio City Music Hall were announced in April 1978, with rents from the proposed tower providing the necessary funds to keep the hall open. An alternative involving transferring the hall's air rights to another building in the complex was also privately discussed. The office building plans were recommended in a draft study that was published in February 1979. The office building was ultimately not built, and Rockefeller Center Inc. instead decided to restore Radio City Music Hall to its original condition.
Radio City Music Hall | Bankruptcy and threat of closure
Henry Varnum Poor designed all of the Music Hall's ceramic fixtures, especially the lighting bases.
Radio City Music Hall | Interior
The construction of Rockefeller Center occurred between 1932 and 1940. on land that John D. Rockefeller Jr. leased from Columbia University. The Rockefeller Center site was originally supposed to be occupied by a new opera house for the Metropolitan Opera. By 1928, Benjamin Wistar Morris and designer Joseph Urban were hired to come up with blueprints for the house. However, the new building was too expensive for the opera to fund by itself, and it needed an endowment, and the project ultimately gained the support of John D. Rockefeller Jr. The planned opera house was canceled in December 1929 due to various issues, but Rockefeller made a deal with RCA to develop Rockefeller Center as a mass media complex with four theaters.
Radio City Music Hall | Planning
All of the Music Hall's staircases were fitted with brass railings, an aspect of the Art Deco style. Deskey commissioned textile designers Marguerita Mergentime and Ruth Reeves to create carpet designs and designs for the fabrics covering the walls. Reeves designed a carpet that contained musical motifs in "shades of red, brown, gold, and black", but her design was replaced in 1999. Mergentime also produced geometric designs of nature and musicians for the walls and carpets, which still exist. Deskey also created his own carpet design consisting of "singing head" depictions, which still exists. Rene Chambellan produced six "playful" bronze plaques of vaudeville characters, which are located in the lobby just above the entrances to the theater.
Radio City Music Hall | Interior
Construction on Radio City Music Hall started in December 1931, and the hall topped out in August 1932. Its construction set many records at the time, including the use of of copper wire and of brass pipe. In November 1932, Russell Markert's précision dance troupe the Roxyettes (later to be known as the Rockettes) left the Roxy Theatre and announced that they would be moving to the Music Hall. By then, Roxy was busy adding music acts in preparation for the hall's opening at the end of the year. The Music Hall opened to the public on December 27, 1932, with a lavish stage show featuring numbers including Ray Bolger, Doc Rockwell and Martha Graham.
Radio City Music Hall | Construction, opening, and early years
The new complex included two theaters, the "International Music Hall" and the Center Theatre, as part of the "Radio City" portion of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of the two venues. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the Music Hall to bankruptcy. Radio City Music Hall was designated a New York City Landmark in May 1978, and the Music Hall was restored and allowed to remain open. The hall was extensively renovated in 1999.
Radio City Music Hall | Introduction
In total, over 650 movies are said to have premiered at the Music Hall. The hall was also used for other purposes; for instance, it was used to host Easter worship services starting in 1940, as well as benefit parties for Big Brothers Inc. from 1953 to at least 1959.
Radio City Music Hall | Construction, opening, and early years
King, Diana Ross, James Brown, and Prince. As the Great Depression hit in 1929, John Rockefeller was the owner of a strip in Manhattan worth ninety-one million dollars. He decided that he wanted to build upon the land he owned and eventually came to construct Rockefeller Center, including the Radio City Music Hall. Opening under the title of an Opera House, Radio City Music Hall was a beautiful sight that even the general public was given an opportunity to enjoy due to the tickets being relatively cheap in comparison to other venues at the time in Manhattan. Carnegie Hall was built in 1890 by a philanthropist by the name of Andrew Carnegie on Seventh Ave between West 56th Street and West 57th Street in the heart of Manhattan.
Music of New York (state) | Music venues
In 1927, the Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce and the city jointly purchased the land that would become home to a municipal auditorium after voters approved a $4 million bond for the site. President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs in the 1930s contributed 55 percent of the cost of building through the Public Works Administration. J. O. Parr began planning and designing the Municipal Auditorium, budgeted at $1.25 million. The original design features a six-story building with both neoclassical and Art Deco features that seated 6,200 in the main hall and smaller theatre that seated 400. In August 1935, the Roosevelt Administration announced that all PWA projects had to break ground by December 1935 or risk losing federal support.
Civic Center Music Hall | History
By January 1978, the Music Hall was in debt, and officials stated that it could not remain open after April. Alton Marshall, president of Rockefeller Center, announced that due to a projected loss of $3.5 million for the upcoming year Radio City Music Hall would close its doors on April 12. Plans for alternate uses for the structure included converting the theater into tennis courts, a shopping mall, an aquarium, a hotel, a theme park, or the American Stock Exchange. Upon hearing the announcement, Rosemary Novellino, Dance Captain of the Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, formed the Showpeople's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall.
Radio City Music Hall | Bankruptcy and threat of closure
The offstage area of the Music Hall contains many rooms that allow all productions to be prepared on-site. The offstage rooms include a carpenter's studio, a scene shop, sewing rooms, dressing rooms for 600 people, a green room for performers' guests, and a dormitory. The elevator system was designed by Peter Clark and built by Otis Elevators. The elevator system was so advanced that the U.S. Navy incorporated identical hydraulics in constructing World War II aircraft carriers; according to Radio City lore, during the war, government agents guarded the basement to hide the U.S. Navy's technological advantage.
Radio City Music Hall | Offstage
At one point, a tennis court was located on the theater's rooftop garden.
Radio City Music Hall | Exterior
During late 1930 and early 1931, the plans were revised and streamlined. March 1931 saw the announcement of Plan F-18, which called for an International Music Hall (now Radio City Music Hall) and its 31-story office building annex to occupy the northernmost of the three blocks, located between 50th and 51st streets. The 66-story RCA Building would be located on the central block's western half, between 49th and 50th streets, and would house RCA and NBC offices as well as broadcasting studios. The oval-shaped retail complex would occupy the block's eastern half, with a rooftop garden. A RKO-operated sound theater would be located in the southernmost block between 48th and 49th streets.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | Plan F-18
This was later downsized to two theaters. Samuel Roxy Rothafel, a successful theater operator who was renowned for his domination of the city's movie theater industry, joined the center's advisory board in 1930. He offered to build two theaters: a large vaudeville "International Music Hall" on the northernmost block with more than 6,200 seats, and the smaller 3,500-seat "RKO Roxy" movie theater on the southernmost block. The idea for these theaters was inspired by Roxy's failed expansion of the 5,920-seat Roxy Theatre on 50th Street, one and a half blocks away. Roxy also envisioned an elevated promenade between the two theaters, but this was never published in any of the official blueprints.
Radio City Music Hall | Planning
The renovation of the Music Hall started in April 1979. In 1980, the hall reopened to the public. Regular film showings at Radio City ended, and live shows were cut back to holiday showings only. Around this time, the Music Hall started creating its own music concerts. Prior to the reopening, the Music Hall was rented to music concerts, but had never hosted a concert that it created.
Radio City Music Hall | Bankruptcy and threat of closure
In 1980, Evans was named chief executive officer of Radio City Music Hall Productions. Evans identified five areas that could operate inside the building as well as work outside the Hall. These were the "Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes", concerts (Radio City eventually controlled 60% of the New York concert market), a theatrical touring company, special-events, and television production. Under Evans' management, Radio City turned a profit for the first time in 30 years.
Richard Evans (executive) | Radio City Music Hall
The interior contains a "majestic" grand foyer, the large and lavishly decorated main auditorium, and a series of stairs and elevators that lead to levels of mezzanines. Designed by Edward Durell Stone, the interior of the theater with its austere Art Deco lines represented a break with the traditional ornate rococo ornament associated with movie palaces at the time. Donald Deskey coordinated the interior design process, as well as designed some of the wallpaper, furniture, and other decor in the Music Hall. Deskey's geometric Art Deco designs incorporate glass, aluminum, chrome, and leather in the ornament for the theater's wall coverings, carpet, light fixtures, and furniture.
Radio City Music Hall | Interior
In 1985, Radio City Music Hall finally recorded its first profit in three decades, with a net gain of $2.5 million that year. This was partly attributed to the addition of music concerts, which appealed toward younger viewers. The Music Hall also started hosting televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the NFL Draft. A new golden curtain was installed at the main stage in January 1987. The curtain was the third one to be installed since the Music Hall's opening in 1932; it had last been replaced in 1965.
Radio City Music Hall | Late 20th century
However, the group did not find any significant architectural details that they could use in the Radio City theaters. In any case, Roxy's friend Peter B. Clark turned out to have much more innovative designs for the proposed theaters than the Europeans did. The Music Hall was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. Eugene Schoen was selected to design the RKO Roxy.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | Theaters
By January 1978, the Music Hall was in debt, and the hall's annual attendance had declined to 1.5 million visitors, down from 5 million in 1968. Officials stated that it could not remain open after April. A grassroots campaign formed the Showpeople's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall, and after several weeks of lobbying, the interior was made a city landmark in March, followed by a National Register of Historic Places listing in May. The hall was set to close on April 12, but five days before the planned closing date, the Empire State Development Corporation voted to create a nonprofit subsidiary to lease the Music Hall.
Rockefeller Center | Late 20th and early 21st centuries
Chambellan commissioned several plaques on the auditorium doors' exteriors, which resemble the vaudeville representations in the lobby and depict the types of performances in the Music Hall. The Music Hall includes four elevators that serve the main lounge level through the third mezzanine level. At ground level, a marble lobby for these elevators is located to the west of the northern exit vestibule. Chambellan also designed the elevator doors with reliefs of musicians in atypical representations. The maple circular roundels inside the cabs were designed by Edward Trumbull, and represent wine, women, and song.
Radio City Music Hall | Lobbies and grand foyer
Andre Fouilhoux (who was also one of the architects for New York's Radio City Music Hall). Construction began in October 1938 and was completed on May 2, 1940, at a cost of US$1.205 million. The facility was dedicated as the "Purdue Hall of Music" on May 3-4, 1940, and was renamed in honor of Elliott in 1958. The Elliott Hall of Music is connected to Hovde Hall, Purdue University's administration building, by a walkway on the second floor. This arrangement allows for the use of the formal entry and receiving hall in the administration building (otherwise not used at nights and weekends when performances are typically held) to serve the Hall of Music, saving both cost and space during the depression era construction.
Elliott Hall of Music | Introduction
The renovation was originally projected to cost $25 million, but later increased to $70 million due to various additional tasks that surfaced during the extensive refurbishment. The Music Hall received a $2.5 million tax break from the Empire State Development Corporation, which was meant to accommodate the expenditure of up to $66 million in renovation costs. The hall reopened with a gala concert on October 5, 1999.
Radio City Music Hall | Late 20th century
The theater's stage was enlarged for musicals in 1936, and four years later, 380 seats were removed in order to make way for an ice rink for skating spectaculars. It showed film, musicals, ice-skating competitions, and television through its 21-year existence. Due to its duplication of the larger Radio City Music Hall's activities, it was deemed uneconomical almost from its opening, and was considered redundant by the 1950s. In 1954, it was replaced by the expansion of 1230 Avenue of the Americas.
Rockefeller Center | Radio City
The entrance's location, which was enhanced by the amount of open space in front of that corner, ensured that the hall could easily be seen from the Broadway theater district a block to the west. An entrance to the New York City Subway's 47th–50th Streets–Rockefeller Center station, served by the , is located on Sixth Avenue directly adjacent to the north end of the marquee, within the same structure that houses Radio City Music Hall. The hall's exterior also has visual features signifying the building's purpose. Above the entrance, Hildreth Meiere created six small bronze plaques of musicians playing different instruments, as well as three larger metal and enamel plaques signifying dance, drama, and song; these plaques denote the theater's theme.
Radio City Music Hall | Exterior
The entrance to the Music Hall is at its southwestern corner, where there are adjacent ticket and advance sales lobbies. Both lobbies contain terrazzo floors and marble walls. The ticket lobby, accessible from Sixth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets, is the larger of the two lobbies. There are four brass ticket booths: one each embedded into the northern and southern walls, and two in the middle, facing the booths in the walls. Large black pillars support a low, slightly coffered ceiling. Circular light fixtures are set into the ceiling of the ticket lobby, within each of the slight indentations.
Radio City Music Hall | Lobbies and grand foyer
The film historian Terry Ramsaye wrote that "if the seating capacity of the Radio City Music Hall is precisely 6,200, then just exactly 6,199 persons must have been aware at the initial performance that they were eye witnesses to [...] the unveiling of the world's best 'bust'". Set designer Robert Edmond Jones resigned in disappointment, and Graham was fired. Despite the negative reviews of the performances, the theater's design was very well received. One reviewer stated: "It has been said of the new Music Hall that it needs no performers; that its beauty and comforts alone are sufficient to gratify the greediest of playgoers." On January 11, 1933, after incurring a net operating loss of $180,000, the Music Hall converted to the then-familiar format of a feature film, with a spectacular stage show that Roxy had perfected.
Radio City Music Hall | Construction, opening, and early years
Because of the Radio City Music Hall's historic status, the curtain had to be the same style, texture, and color as the previous curtains. In 1997, Radio City Music Hall was leased to the Madison Square Garden Company (then known as Cablevision). This move provided funding to keep the Rockettes and the "Christmas Spectacular" at the Music Hall; in addition, Cablevision would be able to renovate and manage the hall. Radio City Music Hall was closed on February 16, 1999, for a comprehensive renovation. During the closure, many components were cleaned and modernized. The curtains were replaced, seats were reupholstered, carpets were relaid, and doorknobs and light fixtures were replaced.
Radio City Music Hall | Late 20th century
After consultation with the famed lexicographer Frank H. Vizetelly, "Centre" was changed to "Center". Over time, the appellation of "Radio City" devolved from describing the entire complex to just the complex's western section; and by 1937, only the Radio City Music Hall contained the "Radio City" name.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | Change in name
The Showpeople's Committee To Save Radio City Music Hall was an organization established for the purpose of preventing the closing and demolition of Radio City Music Hall in 1978. On January 7, 1978, two days after Radio City Music Hall President Alton Marshall made the announcement that the iconic Art Deco theater would close on April 12, 1978, Rosemary Novellino, Dance Captain of the Radio City Music Hall Ballet Company, formed the Showpeople's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall. Motivated by anger, shock and passion for the Music Hall, fellow employees joined the protest and elected Novellino president of the Committee.
Showpeople's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall | Introduction
Radio City Music Hall is located on the east side of Sixth Avenue between 50th and 51st Streets. Located in a niche under the neighboring 1270 Avenue of the Americas, the Music Hall is housed under the building's first setback on the seventh floor. Its exterior is notable for a long marquee sign that wraps around the corner of Sixth Avenue and 50th Street, as well as narrower, seven-story-high signs on the north and south ends of the marquee's Sixth Avenue side; both signs display the hall's name in neon letters. The main entrance to the Music Hall was placed at the corner of Sixth Avenue and 50th Street, underneath the marquee.
Radio City Music Hall | Exterior
The original theater building, Mortensen Hall, seats 2,800 and was designed by the architectural firm of Corbett, Harrison and MacMurray, designers of New York's Radio City Music Hall. It was built with a traditional Georgian Revival exterior and rich Art Deco interior. The cornerstone was laid October 16, 1928 at the corner of Capitol Avenue and Trinity Street, along with a sealed copper box containing: 1928 Hartford City Directory, issues of the Hartford Courant and Hartford Times, writings of Horace Bushnell, a record of the Constitution and By-Laws of the Memorial, a copy of the CT General Statutes and samples of U.S.
The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts | Mortensen Hall
That month also saw the opening of the RKO Building, the first structure in the complex to be opened. The British Empire Building's structural steel started construction in October. The Music Hall was the second site to open, on December 27, 1932, although it had topped out in August. This was followed by the RKO Roxy's opening two days later. Roxy originally intended to use the Music Hall as a vaudeville theater, but the opening of the Music Hall was widely regarded as a flop, and both theaters ended up being used for films and performing arts. Radio City's Roxy Theatre had to be renamed the Center Theatre in May 1933 after a lawsuit by William Fox, who owned the original Roxy Theatre on 50th Street.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | 1932–1933
The auditorium itself is very large and striking. Architectural critic Douglas Haskell describes it thus: "The focus is the great proscenium arch, over high and feet wide, a huge semi-circular void. From that the energy disperses, like a firmament the arched structure rises outward and forward. The 'ceiling', uniting sides and top in its one great curve, proceeds by successive broad bands, like the bands of northern lights." In the hall's early years, the Federal Writer's Project noted that "nearly everything about the Music Hall is tremendous", with the hall hosting the world's largest orchestra; most expansive theater screen; heaviest proscenium arch used in a theater; and "finest precision dancers", the Rockettes.
Radio City Music Hall | Auditorium
The concert hall seats 1200 people. It contains a pipe organ with 84 voices and 114 ranks, built by Marcussen in 1946.
Radiohuset | Concert hall
The first film shown on the giant screen was Frank Capra's "The Bitter Tea of General Yen", and the Music Hall became the premiere showcase for films from the RKO-Radio Studio, with "Topaze" the first RKO film to play there. The film-plus-stage-spectacle format continued at the Music Hall until April 25, 1979, with four complete performances presented every day; the final film the Music Hall presented under this format was "The Promise" (1979). Some of the films that premiered at Radio City Music Hall included "King Kong" (1933), "Breakfast at Tiffany's" (1961), "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), "Mary Poppins" (1964), and "The Lion King" (1994).
Radio City Music Hall | Construction, opening, and early years
After its near-closure and subsequent reopening, Radio City Music Hall diversified its selection of shows and performances. Time slots were set aside for movie screenings, but the Music Hall had mostly turned to stage shows. By January 1980, the Music Hall was hosting shows such as the stage adaptation of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" and the "Rockettes Spectacular." However, the theatrical shows proved to be unpopular, so in 1983, the Radio City Music Hall shifted to creating music concerts and participating in the production of films and TV shows. The parent company, Radio City Music Hall Productions (a subsidiary of Rockefeller Center Inc.), started creating or co-creating films and Broadway shows such as "Legs" and "Brighton Beach Memoirs".
Radio City Music Hall | Late 20th century
The Committee consisted of an alliance between performers, the media, and political allies including New York lieutenant governor Mary Anne Krupsak. The public also made hundreds of calls to Rockefeller Center, and "The New York Times" described that the callers "jammed the switchboards" there. The Rockettes also protested outside New York City Hall. Following the closure announcement, the interior was made a city landmark on March 29. This designation was contested, and Rockefeller Center Inc. unsuccessfully filed a lawsuit to try to reverse the landmark designation. On April 8, four days before the planned closing date, the Empire State Development Corporation voted to create a nonprofit subsidiary to lease the Music Hall.
Radio City Music Hall | Bankruptcy and threat of closure
W. S. Bellows Construction became the primary contractor and began on-site excavation on time. The Municipal Auditorium was completed in April 1937. The first performance, "Rhapsodic Rhythms" took place on October 4, 1937. The Oklahoma Art Center, a community art center administered by the Federal Art Project, was located in Municipal Auditorium. Fundraising campaigns began for the successful organization as the Federal Art Project came to an end, and in May 1945 the Oklahoma Art Center was incorporated. In 1989 it was merged into the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.
Civic Center Music Hall | History
A smaller staircase to the first-mezzanine lounge runs along the southern wall, connecting to a curved extension of that level's balcony. The southern and northern sides of the grand foyer, respectively leading to 50th and 51st Streets, contain shallow vestibules with red marble walls. The northern vestibule is used as the exit lobby, while the southern vestibule is an emergency exit. The grand foyer's eastern wall contains openings from the first, second, and third mezzanine levels, and the western wall contains mirrors within gold frames. Eleven doors leading to the Music Hall's auditorium are also located on the grand foyer's eastern side.
Radio City Music Hall | Lobbies and grand foyer
Stuart Davis created "Men Without Women", a mural of masculine stereotypical pastimes in the basement-level men's lounge; the work was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in 1975 and loaned back to the Music Hall in 1999. Finally, Edward Buk Ulreich created a "Wild West Mural" on the third-mezzanine men's lounge.
Radio City Music Hall | Art
The auditorium has around 5,960 seats for spectators. Around 3,500 of these seats are located in the orchestra seating area on ground level, while the remaining seats are distributed among the three mezzanine levels (see ). The orchestra and mezzanine sections all contain reddish-brown plush seating throughout, as well as storage compartments under each seat, lights at the end of each row of seats, and more legroom space than in other theaters. The auditorium's ceiling is ringed with eight telescoping bands, the "northern lights" Haskell described. Each of the bands' edges contain a overlap with each other. In Joseph Urban's original plans, the ceiling was to be coffered, but after the cancellation of the Opera House, designers proposed many different designs for the proposed Music Hall's ceiling.
Radio City Music Hall | Auditorium
In 1952, the building committee recommended constructing a new hall on the site of several former university hospitals on the north edge of the old city that had been destroyed during the war. In January 1954, the city council announced a competition to design the structure and received 109 entries from around the world. The judging committee narrowed the field and ultimately selected the design by German architect Siegfried Wolske. The cornerstone was laid 16 March 1956 by President of Germany Theodor Heuss. Construction concluded in 1959 and the opening concert was September 8, 1959. Total costs were DM9 million with the national and North Rhine-Westphalia governments contributing DM 1 million each, DM 6.5 million from the city of Bonn and DM 1 million in private contributions.
Beethovenhalle | The new hall
The public areas of the Music Hall feature the work of many Depression-era artists, who were commissioned by Deskey as part of his general design scheme. The large mural in the grand foyer, "Quest for the Fountain of Eternal Youth", was painted by Ezra Winter and depicts a fable from a Native American tribe in Oregon. The murals on the wall of the grand lounge, which depict five eras of differing theater scenes, are collectively known as the "Phantasmagoria of the Theater" by Louis Bouche. Three female nudes cast in aluminum were commissioned for the music hall, but Roxy thought that they were inappropriate for a family venue.
Radio City Music Hall | Art
Through the 1960s, the Music Hall was successful regardless of the status of the city's economic, business, or entertainment sectors as a whole. It remained open even as other theaters such as the Paramount and the Roxy closed. Even so, officials had intended to close down Radio City Music Hall in 1962, in what would become one of several such unheeded announcements. By 1964, the Radio City Music Hall was projected to have 5.7 million annual visitors, who paid ticket prices of between 99 cents and $2.75 (equivalent to between $ and $ in ). The hall had evolved to show fewer adult films, instead choosing to show films for general audiences.
Radio City Music Hall | Decline
In October 2001, the concert "" was simulcast live from the theater on The WB and TNT. The concert had been delayed following the September 11 attacks the month before.
Radio City Music Hall | Television
Popular films, such as "Chinatown", "Blazing Saddles", and "The Godfather Part II", failed the Music Hall's screening criteria. By 1972, the Music Hall had fired the performers' unions as well as six of the thirty-six Rockettes. A painting by Stuart Davis was donated to the Museum of Modern Art to reduce Radio City Music Hall's tax burden. In 1977, annual attendance reached an all-time low of 1.5 million, a 70% decrease from the 5 million visitors reported in 1968.
Radio City Music Hall | Decline
The skyscraper would be named for RCA as part of the agreement. Designs for the Radio City Music Hall and the RCA Building were submitted to the New York City Department of Buildings in August 1931, by which time both buildings were to open in 1932. Work on the steel structure of the RCA Building started in March 1932, and the building's structural steel was up to the 64th floor by September of that year. The photograph "Lunch atop a Skyscraper" was taken on September 20, 1932, during the construction of the 69th floor. The structure of the RCA Building was slated to open on May 1, 1933.
30 Rockefeller Plaza | Construction
Originally envisioned as the site for a new Metropolitan Opera building, the current Rockefeller Center came about after the Met could not afford to move to the proposed new building. Various plans were discussed before the current one was approved in 1932. Construction of Rockefeller Center started in 1931, and the first buildings opened in 1933. The core of the complex was completed by 1939. The original center has several sections. Radio City, along Sixth Avenue and centered on 30 Rockefeller Plaza, includes Radio City Music Hall and was built for RCA's radio-related enterprises such as NBC. The International Complex along Fifth Avenue was built to house foreign-based tenants.
Rockefeller Center | Introduction
The Music Hall contains three mezzanines within the back wall of the auditorium, as well as a main lounge in the basement. Each of the mezzanines is shallow, and all three mezzanine levels are stacked on top of the orchestra's rear seats. Ramps on either side of the stage lead to the first mezzanine level, the lowest of the three mezzanines, creating the impression of a stage encircling the orchestra. Each of the three mezzanine levels has a men's smoking room, a women's lounge, and men's and women's restrooms. No two restrooms or lounges have the same design. A 1932 "New York Times" article described the reasons for such varied designs: "Since the auditoriums, men's lobbies, smoking rooms and women's lounges are used for a few hours only, decorative schemes are appropriate in them that would be too dramatic for a home."
Radio City Music Hall | Mezzanines
The east side of Sixth Avenue, officially known as Avenue of the Americas, contains most of the buildings that were built specifically for the proposed radio complex. These buildings, which comprise "Radio City", are 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 30 Rockefeller Plaza, Radio City Music Hall and 1270 Avenue of the Americas. The idea for an integrated media complex somewhere came in 1920, when Owen D. Young, the chairman of RCA parent General Electric, suggested that RCA combine its then-disparate offices into one location. The western half of the southernmost block of the complex along Sixth Avenue, between 48th and 49th streets, contains the former U.S.
Rockefeller Center | Radio City
Radio City Music Hall later decided to remain closed after March 13, with no set reopening date, since other venues had also closed indefinitely. This affected events like the 74th Tony Awards, originally scheduled for June 7 but was then postponed after the Music Hall's closure.
Radio City Music Hall | Early 21st century
The Committee membership consisted of Rockettes, ballet dancers, singers, musicians, ushers, costume department, stagehands and front of the house employees who banded together in an effort to save what they believed to be the last great movie palace in America. The Committee was in no way connected with the management of Radio City Music Hall or Rockefeller Center. Rosemary Novellino inspired fellow employees on their own time to create publicity in favor of keeping the Radio City Music Hall open, protecting it from demolition, and making every effort toward having the Music Hall declared a landmark building. The Committee had a huge impact on motivating New York City and State politicians, celebrities of stage, film and television, local businesses throughout the community, and loyal fans of the Music Hall to join them in this major David and Goliath battle against the Rockefellers to save "The Showplace of The Nation." A letter writing campaign alone produced more than 150,000 signatures on petitions from all over the world.
Showpeople's Committee to Save Radio City Music Hall | Introduction
The main lounge in the basement is decorated with a design rivaling the grand foyer above it. The walls are composed of black "permatex", which was a new material at the time of the Music Hall's construction. The ceiling has diamond-shaped light fixtures and is supported by six diamond-shaped piers, as well as three full-height piers of a similar shape that exist only for aesthetic purposes. The lounge is decorated with several artworks (see ). Deskey also designed the chrome furniture and the carpeting of the lounge. The landing for the Music Hall's elevator bank is located on the northern side of the main lounge.
Radio City Music Hall | Main lounge
The court from Madison Square Garden was moved to Radio City Music Hall during this time. Radio City Music Hall was the site of the NFL Draft between 2006 and 2014. Prior to being held in the Music Hall, the NFL Draft had been hosted at other locations in New York City since 1965, but after the 2014 draft, the National Football League hosted the draft in a series of other cities nationwide.
Radio City Music Hall | Sports
The opening was meant to be a return to high-class variety entertainment. However, the opening was not a success: the program was very long, spanning from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. of the next day, and a multitude of acts were crammed onto the world's largest stage, ensuring that individual acts were lost in the cavernous hall. As the premiere went on, audience members, including John Rockefeller Jr, waited in the lobby or simply left early. Some news reporters, tasked with writing reviews of the premiere, guessed the ending of the program because they left beforehand. Reviews ranged from furious to commiserate.
Radio City Music Hall | Construction, opening, and early years
The Music Hall was used again in November 2006 for a 2-week "Celebrity Jeopardy!" event. In 1988, David Letterman hosted Late Night With David Letterman's Sixth Anniversary Special at Radio City Music Hall, and did so again for the Tenth Anniversary Special in 1992. The next year, Lyons Group (parent company of Barney & Friends at the time), taped a live stage show called "Barney Live in New York City" at the theater. In February 1998, Radio City Music Hall was a setting for the "Sesame Street" music special "Elmopalooza", with Jon Stewart, David Alan Grier and others with the cast of "Sesame Street" and the Muppets.
Radio City Music Hall | Television
Radio City Music Hall was also a major venue after opening in 1932, and was also recently renovated; it is now a significant architectural attraction as an example of the Art Deco style. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the largest performing arts center in the world. The center is home to twelve resident organizations, including the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society, New York City Opera, Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. The New York Philharmonic, which performs at Avery Fisher Hall, is the oldest orchestra in the United States, founded in 1842.
Music of New York City | Institutions and venues
The advance sales lobby, accessible from 50th Street just east of Sixth Avenue, contains a single ticket booth on the eastern wall. To the ticket lobby's east, and the advance sales lobby's northeast, is the elliptical grand foyer, whose four-story-high ceiling and dramatic artwork contrast with the compactness of the lobby. Two long, tubular chandeliers created by Edward F. Caldwell & Co. hang from the ceiling. The northern side of the grand foyer contains Ezra Winter's mural, and a grand staircase leading up to the first-mezzanine foyer runs along the northern wall next to Winter's mural. Another set of stairs below the grand staircase descends from the northern side of the foyer to the main lounge one level below.
Radio City Music Hall | Lobbies and grand foyer
The Auditorium and Music Hall is a historic building in Portland, Oregon, in the United States, designed by English architect Frederick Manson White. It was built by Emil C. Jorgensen and was completed in 1895. The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP).
Auditorium and Music Hall | Introduction
The RCA founder was enthusiastic about the project, expressing his vision for a complex that, according to Daniel Okrent, contained "an opera house, a concert hall, a Shakespeare theater—and both broadcast studios and office space for RCA and its affiliated companies". RCA president David Sarnoff would join the negotiations in early 1930. Sarnoff immediately recognized Radio City's potential to affect the fledgling television and radio industries. By May, RCA and its affiliates had made an agreement with Rockefeller Center managers. RCA would lease of studio space; get naming rights to the development's largest tower; and develop four theaters, at a cost of $4.25 million per year (equivalent to $ million in ).
Construction of Rockefeller Center | New plans
Central Music Hall (1879–1900) was a mixed-use commercial building and theater in Chicago, situated on the southeast corner of State and Randolph Streets. It was designed by celebrated German-born American architect Dankmar Adler. It was the first important building designed by the famous architect, in which he made initial use of his knowledge of acoustics. The building was demolished in 1900, around the same time Adler died, in order to build the Marshall Field & Company store, now Macy's.
Central Music Hall (Chicago) | Introduction
In 1966, the head of Swedish radio Olof Rydbeck and director of music Karl-Birger Blomdahl approached the then Minister of Transport and Communications Olof Palme about the need for a new home for the national radio orchestra where they could rehearse, record and give concerts in the same hall. Plans began in the 1970s. The hall was originally supposed be located at the end of the Karlavägen esplanade but was moved further along the water. The site was selected to allow the hall to merge with nature and was positioned in the rock so it would not look too large.
Berwaldhallen | History
The Peavey Grand Opera House was built in 1888, and "this elegant facility replaced the Academy of Music as the city's cultural center". The limitations of the Academy of Music were clear by 1881, but it wasn't until it was combined with the desire for a new chamber of commerce building that it became a viable project. Architects James W. Martin and Oscar Cobb joined forces to design the resulting Romanesque revival building with a mansard roof, located on the northwest corner of Fourth and Jones Streets. A bank and a drug store occupied either side of the theater lobby on the first floor, while the chamber of commerce, local weather bureau, real estate and other offices filled the upper floors.
Sioux City Municipal Auditorium | History
The city hall was built from 1931 to 1945.
Xonacatlán | History
The small Center Theatre was deemed redundant to Radio City Music Hall, and in its final years, had been used as an NBC and RCA broadcasting space. In 1953, NBC and RCA expanded into the office space in 30 Rockefeller Center that Sinclair had just vacated. After the broadcasting studio was abandoned, the U.S. Rubber Company indicated that it wanted to expand its office building into the space that was occupied by the underused theater. In October 1953, it was announced that the theater would be demolished. During the demolition process, the U.S. Rubber Building was put on temporary stilts, with the offices above the former theater still being occupied during the demolition process.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | 1940s and 1950s
Since 1956, the building has contained the music department including the Performing Arts Series Office and the Philosophy Department. In the 1960s, there were purportedly plans to demolish the building due to an imminent expansion of Miami's King Library, so the Benton name was moved to the behavioral sciences building that had recently been built. In 1969, the planned razing did not occur, and the building was renamed Hall Auditorium in honor of Miami's fifth president, John W. Hall.
Hall Auditorium | Construction and planning
At the time of its opening in 1928, the building was dubbed the Wilson Theatre.
Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts | History
Radio City Music Hall has been used for televised game shows such as "Hollywood Squares", "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!". For two weeks in November 1988, the theater hosted "Wheel of Fortune", which was taking its first road trip. "Saturday Night Live" announcer Don Pardo announced during the two weeks. It played host to the show again in November 2003 for the nighttime show's 4,000th episode, and again in November 2007 for the nighttime show's 25th anniversary. Radio City Music Hall was also the site for "Jeopardy!" four-thousandth episode in May 2002, at which time the show's Million Dollar Masters invitational tournament also occurred.
Radio City Music Hall | Television
As other facilities became available to clientele the Opera House was left idle following World War II. City government offices continued to function within building despite the dormant theater above.
Sandwich City Hall | Construction and early years
Municipal Auditorium was the first building built as part of the "Ten-Year Plan", a bond program that passed by a 4 to 1 margin in 1931. The campaign was run by the Civic Improvement Committee chaired by Conrad H. Mann. Other buildings in the plan included the Kansas City City Hall and the Kansas City branch of the Jackson County Courthouse. The plan was championed by most local politicians including Thomas Pendergast and provided Pendergast with many patronage opportunities during the Great Depression. Municipal Auditorium replaced Convention Hall which was directly across the street and was torn down for parking to create what is now called the Barney Allis Plaza.
Municipal Auditorium (Kansas City, Missouri) | Background
The "Radio City Christmas Spectacular" is an annual Christmas stage musical produced by MSG Entertainment, which operates the Music Hall. A New York Christmas tradition since 1933, it features the women's precision dance team known as the Rockettes. The Irish dance show "Riverdance" made its North American debut at the Music Hall in March 1996, breaking box-office records. Radio City Music Hall also hosted the Cirque du Soleil show "Zarkana" from June 2011 to September 2012.
Radio City Music Hall | Shows
Concerts were mainly held in the Central Hall until a new hall could be built; larger scale works were performed in St George's Hall. Considerable discussion took place about the financing and the design of the new hall. It was decided that the society would pay for it without help from the City Corporation. Herbert J. Rowse was appointed as architect and he designed to hall in art deco style; it cost a little over £120,000 (£ as of 2020). Sir Thomas Beecham conducted the opening concert on 20 June 1939. Incorporated in the hall is an organ built by Rushworth and Dreaper, the pipework being hidden behind decorative grilles either side of the orchestra platform.
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic | 1900–1939
The building of a new hall was delayed by the demands of Liverpool City Corporation, which announced that it would not support the building of a venue suitable only as a concert hall. The corporation demanded an auditorium equally suited to cinema and theatre use. Controversy ensued with vocal opposition to the corporation's stance led by the doyen of British conductors, Sir Henry Wood. A compromise was reached and work began in June 1937. Herbert J. Rowse was commissioned to design a new hall on the site of the previous hall. Rowse's design was in Streamline Moderne style. It incorporated an organ built by the Liverpool firm of Rushworth and Dreaper with a console which can be lowered from the stage.
Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool | History
Construction on the original Music Building was started in 1922, with plans designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, head of the University's School of Architecture and Allied Arts and University Architect. It was part of Lawrence's master plan for the University and the original building's architecture is highly reminiscent of that of the Memorial Quadrangle and the School of Education. Beall Hall, at the northern end of the building, was the last part of the original structure completed. The building was finished in 1924, though the inscription over the entrance to Beall Hall on the west facade gives "AD 1921." Unlike other buildings on campus, which were built around the same time, the Music Building was funded by private capital, which the University repaid with interest in subsequent years.
MarAbel B. Frohnmayer Music Building | History
H. Richardson. In the early 1890s, Griffin & Randall, with Randall as designer, was chosen to design the Baltimore Music Hall. Selection of an architect was made by competition, with the entries judged by Richard Morris Hunt and Griffin & Randall beating out Carrère and Hastings. Randall designed the Hall along the same lines as the Neues Gewandhaus of Leipzig, but his plans for an imposing Baroque circular front never materialized due to a lack of funds. The Hall was built between 1893 and 1894 and opened on October 31, 1894, with a gala concert by the Boston Symphony, directed by Emil Faur.
T. Henry Randall | Career
The idea for Central Music Hall was conceived by George B. Carpenter, a local promoter of concerts and lectures. Carpenter was a member of Reverend David Swing's popular nondenominational Central Church, and he imagined a building to be named in its honor that would provide a home for the church and also feature a concert hall, stores, and offices. Construction began in the Spring of 1879 and the auditorium (not yet fully complete) opened on December 5, immediately becoming the city's premier auditorium. It was the first significant music hall to be built following the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.
Central Music Hall (Chicago) | History
During the first years of its existence, Danish Broadcasting Corporation (Danish Statsradiofonien) was based at various locations in Copenhagen, including in Stærekassen on Kongens Nytorv and in Axelborg on Vesterbrogade. As the organization grew, the need for a larger, purpose-built home became evident. Vilhelm Lauritzen was one of four members of a building committee which in the summer of 1934 went on a study trip to London, Paris, Brussels, Geneva, Zürich, Prague, Leipzig, Berlin and Konigsberg, visiting similar broadcasting houses, and later that year Lauritzen published a preliminary design proposal broadcasting house in "Arkitekten". The building went under construction in 1938 and was mostly ready in January 1941, although the concert hall was not completed until 1945.
Radiohuset | History
Wagner-Mozart Music Hall was a historic building located in Mason City, Iowa, United States. Built in 1936, this was one of, if not the first, building designed for a school music program. The concrete and brick Moderne structure was designed by Hansen & Waggoner, and built by local workers from the Works Progress Administration who used local materials. The building contained rehearsal space for instrumental music programs and a large band and orchestra room. There were two entrances into the building with caps above them. One was marked "Wagner" and the other "Mozart." One entrance led into a student vestibule that led to the rehearsal rooms and instrument storage, and the other entrance led to a public vestibule that led to the auditorium/band room.
Wagner-Mozart Music Hall | Introduction
However, the Music Hall's operating costs were almost twice as high as those of smaller performance venues. In addition, with the loosening of regulations on explicit content, the Music Hall's audience was mostly relegated to families. Radio City Music Hall was closed entirely for five days in early 1965 for its first-ever full cleaning, which included changing the curtains and painting the ceiling. Repairs were also performed on the hall's organs during the nighttime. By the early 1970s, the proliferation of subtitled foreign movies had reduced attendance at the Music Hall. Changes in film distribution made it difficult for Radio City Music Hall to secure exclusive bookings of many films, and the Music Hall preferred to show only G-rated movies, which further limited their film choices as the decade wore on.
Radio City Music Hall | Decline
John Francis Dodge and his brother Horace were original investors in Ford Motor Company who sold their interest to Henry Ford and established their own company, the Dodge Motor Company, in 1914. Both brothers died in 1920, leaving their respective widows very wealthy women. Matilda Dodge Wilson, John's widow, married in 1925 to Alfred Wilson, was interested in stage productions and decided to use part of her fortune to build a venue in Detroit to serve as home to a repertory troupe, and to host touring Broadway performers. She hired the prominent Detroit architectural firm of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls who assigned William Kapp to design the building and spent $1.5 million on the construction.
Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts | History
Although the Rockefellers loved the sculptures, the only one that was displayed on opening night was "Goose Girl" by Robert Laurent, which is located on the first mezzanine and depicts a nude aluminum girl beside a slender aluminum goose. Since opening night the other two sculptures have been put on display at the Music Hall. "Eve" by Gwen Lux is displayed in the southwest corner of the grand foyer, and "Spirit of the Dance" by William Zorach is visible from the grand lounge. Each of the public restrooms have adjoining lounges that display various works of art. The third-floor women's restroom contains the "Panther Mural" by Henry Billings, which is accompanied by Deskey's abstract wall coverings in the women's lounge.
Radio City Music Hall | Art
Before the construction of Alice Tully Hall, most of the chamber music performances in New York City were held at The Town Hall on West 43rd Street, which had been built in 1921. The founders of Lincoln Center wished to have a chamber music hall in the complex, as there was still a need for a dedicated space. Before construction on Lincoln Center began, the architects considered placing a chamber music hall in the basement of Philharmonic Hall (since renamed David Geffen Hall, formerly Avery Fisher Hall). However, as the Juilliard School needed a concert hall that was equal in size to a chamber music hall, Lincoln Center decided to build one in the Juilliard building.
Alice Tully Hall | Context and construction
The surface of Rockefeller Plaza outside Radio City Music Hall, between 50th and 51st Street, contains small bronze circles for theatergoers to stand on while waiting to enter the hall. Until the 1980s, the plaza contained plaques that affirmed Columbia University's ownership of Rockefeller Center, but these were removed with the 1985 sale of the complex to the Rockefeller Group. Since Rockefeller Plaza is technically a purely private property to which the public is welcome, the plaza is closed for part of one day every year.
Rockefeller Center | Rockefeller Plaza
Works include (with attribution): Construction of Reynolds' designs for a city hall in Ainsworth, Nebraska (1935) and for an auditorium in Hampton, Nebraska (1938) were partially funded by Public Works Administration grants, at 50% and 30% respectively.
J.F. Reynolds | Projects
The hall is actually a concrete building within a brick building. The building was designed by FFKR Architects and acoustical design services were provided by Dr. Cyril M. Harris with the outcome of creating an environment of acoustic excellence. Harris was the acoustical consultant for the remodeled Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., and Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The hall is rectangular in shape, similar to some of the world's finest symphony halls, such as the Grosser Musikvereinssaal in Vienna, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, and Symphony Hall in Boston. The stage was designed strictly for use as a concert hall, and has no proscenium - meaning that it is an extension of the audience.
Abravanel Hall | Architecture
The spectacular stage and screen programming ideas of the Roxy's founder continued at Radio City Music Hall into the 1970s. Radio City's lavish Christmas stage show, created in 1933 by the Roxy's former producer and choreographer, Leon Leonidoff and Russell Markert, continues to this day as the "Radio City Christmas Spectacular". The Music Hall itself was saved from demolition by a consortium of preservation and commercial interests in 1979 and it remains one of New York's entertainment landmarks. Its restored interior includes the lavish art deco offices created for "Roxy" Rothafel, preserved partly as a tribute to the visionary showman.
Roxy Theatre (New York City) | Legacy
Rubber Company Building (now Simon & Schuster Building) at 1230 Avenue of the Americas. The last structure in the original complex to be built, it was topped out in November 1939. The 23-story building contains two 7-story wings on its north and south sides. It was renamed after Uniroyal in 1967, and again after Simon & Schuster in 1976. 1230 Avenue of the Americas was expanded to the east in 1954 after the Center Theatre adjacent to it was demolished. The 19-story annex, designed by Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz, had a glass facade on the lowest two stories—reflecting the design of the former American Airlines Building across Sixth Avenue—and a limestone facade above the second story.
Rockefeller Center | Radio City
In the center of Radio City would be a new three-block-long private street running between Fifth and Sixth avenues, with a concave plaza at the midpoint. The complex would also include space for a future Metropolitan Opera venue on the northernmost block. An underground pedestrian shopping mall, which would be located above the underground bus terminal, was also added in this plan. The complex would include 28,000 windows and more than of structural steel, according to the builders. It would cost $250 million. For the first time, a scale rendering of the proposed complex was presented to the public. The rendering was much criticized, with some taking issue with details or general dimensions of the as-yet-unconfirmed proposal, and others lambasting the location of the tall skyscrapers around the plaza.
Construction of Rockefeller Center | Plan F-18
On 10 March 1933, the hall hosted a memorial concert to the BBC's former Director of Music, Percy Pitt. In 1933, the BBC "Yearbook" described the hall's acoustics and architecture: Val Myer's interior included extensive Art Deco fittings, an oak dado and bas-reliefs by Gilbert Bayes. The theatre's green room was designed by Raymond McGrath.
BBC Radio Theatre | History
From 1920–33 it was used for Military Science, and from 1933–58 it was used for Music. During these periods of use, it was called the Military Sciences Building and the Music Building. Some remodeling was done in 1933 to accommodate the music department, and in 1949 it was enlarged to include a music library. Dramatic Arts and Comparative Literature moved into the building in 1958. More recently, the College Writing Program occupied the top floor. The annex is currently occupied by the Department of Theater, Dance, and Performance Studies.
Dwinelle Hall | Introduction
L. Hartridge Company. The demolition of the existing rowhouses on the site were completed on April 15, 1930. The northern wall of Cathedral High School was left vulnerable as a result of the demolition, so it was reinforced with cinder concrete. Simultaneously with the development of the RCA Victor Building, John D. Rockefeller Jr. was planning a large building complex (later Rockefeller Center) three blocks west of the new skyscraper. In December 1929, the Metropolitan Opera had declined an offer to develop a new opera house at Rockefeller's site. Raymond Hood, one of the architects involved in the construction of Rockefeller Center, suggested negotiating with RCA and its subsidiaries to build a mass media entertainment complex there.
General Electric Building | Construction
This Victorian Gothic building, built in 1878 and initially named Assembly Hall, was designed by architect David R. Jones of Madison to house an 800-seat auditorium, a library, and a clock tower. Dedicated on March 2, 1880, the building originally held conventions, dances, and commencement ceremonies, along with its primary purpose of a library. After the library moved to a different building on campus, a portion of the hall was assigned to the School of Music in 1900. Shortly after renovations in the early 1900s, the building was officially named Music Hall in 1910. It remains an important music venue and is home to the university opera.
University of Wisconsin–Madison School of Music | Music Hall
Rockefeller Center (1928) Radio City Music Hall (1931) Nordic Theater (1936)
Michael Hare | Known Works
Adler would refine these features in later auditorium designs, including most famously the Auditorium Theater completed in 1890. Adler said Central Music Hall "has proved in many respects one of the most successful buildings ever erected in Chicago, and I shall always consider it the foundation of whatever professional standing I acquire."
Central Music Hall (Chicago) | History
It currently houses the School of Music.
John W. Cook Hall | Introduction
When viewed from the air, the building forms a massive bass clef. The point on the sweeping arch of the building suggests the tailfin of a 1959 Cadillac sedan. The building's front windows resemble piano keys. The tower on top of the Rotunda that extends down the Hall of Fame is a replica of the distinctive diamond-shaped WSM radio tower, which was originally built in 1932 just south of Nashville and is still in operation. The Rotunda itself is replete with symbolic architectural elements. For example, the exterior of this cylindrical structure can be viewed variously as a drum kit, a rural water tower, or grain silo.
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | Architecture and design