3417 x 5125 px | 28,9 x 43,4 cm | 11,4 x 17,1 inches | 300dpi
Data acquisizione:
8 giugno 2010
Ubicazione:
131 N. 55th St., New York, New York
Altre informazioni:
The tilework and horseshoe arches on the exterior are in Andalusian Islamic style. New York City Center, originally known as City Center of Music and Drama, and also known as New York City Center 55th Street Theater, is a 2, 750-seat Moorish Revival concert hall located at 131 West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues in Manhattan, New York City. It is one block south of Carnegie Hall. City Center is especially known as a performing home for several major dance companies as well as the Encores! series and most recently the Fall for Dance Festival. The facility houses the 2, 753 seat main stage, two smaller theatres, four studios and a 12-story office tower. The New York City Center, built in 1923, was designed by architect Harry P. Knowles and the firm of Clinton & Russell, and was originally called the Mecca Temple, by the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, more commonly known as Shriners. In 1921, Mecca Temple bought the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation movie studio site from Yale University for $400, 000. The cornerstone (visible today on West 56th Street) was laid on December 13, 1923 by Judge Arthur S. Tompkins. Grand Master of Masons in NY State. The dedication ceremony took place on stage, December 29, 1924. After the financial crash of 1929 the Mecca Shriners were unable to pay the taxes on the building and it became city property. By the early 1940s, the building was slated for demolition when New York City Council President Newbold Morris and Mayor Fiorello La Guardia decided to convert the building into a home for the performing arts. On December 11, 1943, with publicist and future producer Jean Dalrymple in charge as the volunteer director of public relations, the New York City Center of Music and Drama opened its doors with a concert by the New York Philharmonic.
