The Music Hall in New York (later…

The Music Hall in New York (later known as Carnegie Hall) has its grand opening and first public performance in 1891.

Although the building has been in use from April 1891, the official opening night is May 5, with a concert conducted by Walter Damrosch and Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Eventually named after Andrew Carnegie, who has funded its construction, it is intended as a venue for the Oratorio Society of New York and the New York Symphony Society, on whose boards Carnegie serves.

Construction began in 1890, and was carried out by Isaac A. Hopper and Company.

Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill, it remains one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music.

It is one of the last large buildings in New York built entirely of masonry, without a steel frame (however, when several flights of studio spaces are added to the building near the turn of the 20th century, a steel framework will be erected around segments of the building.)

The exterior is rendered in narrow Roman bricks of a mellow ocher hue, with details in terracotta and brownstone.

The foyer avoids typical nineteenth century Baroque theatrical style with the Florentine Renaissance manner of Filippo Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel: white plaster and gray stone form a harmonious system of round-headed arched openings and Corinthian pilasters that support an unbroken cornice, with round-headed lunettes above it, under a vaulted ceiling.

The famous white and gold auditorium interior is similarly restrained.