| Aeolian Building | |
|---|---|
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 Interactive map of the Aeolian Building area | |
| General information | |
| Location | Manhattan, New York City |
| Coordinates | 40°45′16″N73°58′56″W / 40.7544°N 73.9822°W /40.7544; -73.9822 |
| Opened | 1912 |
| Height | 260 feet (79 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 17 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Warren and Wetmore |
TheAeolian Building is a skyscraper inMidtown Manhattan in New York City, at 29–33West 42nd Street and 34 West 43rd Street, just north ofBryant Park. The 1912 building was the fourth headquarters of theAeolian Company, which manufacturedpianos and other musical instruments.[a][2] The 17-story building contained the 1,100-seatAeolian Hall (1912–1927), a first-rankedconcert hall of its day.[3]
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The building, on the site of theLatting Tower, a popularobservatory during the 19th century, was designed by the architectsWhitney Warren and Charles Wetmore and completed in 1912. Its name refers to theAeolian Company, which manufactured pianos. It is 260 feet (79 m) high and has 18 floors.[4] In mid-1922, the company sold the building to the Schulte Cigar Stores Company for over $5 million.[5]
From 1961 to 1999, the building housed theGraduate Center of the City University of New York, and today houses theState University of New York's College of Optometry,[6] next to theW. R. Grace Building.
The concert hall, which could seat 1,100 spectators, was on the 43rd Street side of the building, on the first and second floors.[7]
TheNew York Symphony Society performed concerts in both Aeolian Hall andCarnegie Hall, but moved in 1924 to the newMecca Auditorium on55th Street. In 1923 American contraltoEdna Indermaur made her singing debut at Aeolian Hall.[8]
From 1923 to 1926 the WJZ (nowWABC) studios were at Aeolian Hall, with transmission towers atop the building.
Aeolian Hall also featured concerts by leading musical figures such asWilliam Grant Still,Ottorino Respighi,Sergei Rachmaninoff, Beniamino Riccio,Josef Hofmann,Sergei Prokofiev,Ferruccio Busoni,Guiomar Novaes,Rebecca Clarke,May Mukle,Ignacy Jan Paderewski andVladimir Rosing, as well asPaul Whiteman and His Orchestra. Upon its return to the United States after several years in Europe, theZoellner Quartet gave its first New York performance there on January 7, 1914.[9]
The hall is most famous for a concert given by Whiteman's orchestra on February 12, 1924, titled "An Experiment in Modern Music". Intended to be an educational demonstration on how far American music had progressed in recent decades and howjazz could be performed in the concert hall, the concert included a suite byVictor Herbert and closed with thePomp and Circumstance Marches byEdward Elgar. The concert is remembered, however, for the penultimate piece, theworld premiere ofGeorge Gershwin'sRhapsody in Blue with the composer at the piano,orchestrated by Whiteman's arrangerFerde Grofé. This concert is today considered a defining event of theJazz Age and the cultural history of New York City.[10]
The building continued to host concerts by theInternational Composers' Guild up to January 1926, at least, when the appearance ofAfrican American Broadway performerFlorence Mills, singing jazz-based pieces byWilliam Grant Still, caused a minor sensation.Nadezhda Plevitskaya reportedly delighted the Aeolian Hall audience with her Russian folk songs in April 1926.[11]
The concert hall closed in May 1927,[12] with a performance by violinist Leon Goldman.[citation needed]
Notes
Citations
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) (video); floor plans at 1:00–1:10.
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