This is how it appeared when it was completed in It took a great amount
of labor with a large amount of skill to construct this magnificent
structure. i highly recommend see a show here. New York City's Town
Hall, The United Palace Theater and of course Radio City and The Met
Opera are also bucket list venues.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The New York City Center, built in 1923, was designed by architect Harry P. Knowles and the firm of Clinton & Russell,[3] and was originally called the Mecca Temple, by the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, more commonly known as Shriners. The Shriners had previously held their meetings at Carnegie Hall.
According to Broadway lore, Carnegie Hall management was disturbed by
the amount of cigar smoke generated during Shriners meetings and evicted
them.[citation needed]
Although the Shriners owned a clubhouse at 107 West 45th Street, large
meetings had earlier been held in Carnegie Hall and in the concert hall
of Madison Square Garden[5] (the 1890 Stanford White building).
In 1921, Mecca Temple bought the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation movie studio site from Yale University for $400,000.[6] The cornerstone (visible today on West 56th Street) was laid on December 13, 1923 by Judge Arthur S. Tompkins,[7]
Grand Master of Masons in NY State. The dedication ceremony took place
onstage, December 29, 1924, with the invocation offered by Episcopal
Bishop William T. Manning.[8] The first public musical concert took place late the next year, by John Philip Sousa's (a Mason) band, with Walter Damrosch and Willem Mengelberg among the audience.[9]
The building's design is Neo-Moorish and features elaborate interior and exterior polychromed tile work, murals, and a recently restored terra cotta
tiled rooftop dome. The 102-foot (31 m) wide, 54-foot (16 m) tall dome
is covered with more than 28,000 individual tiles. The building was
designed by architects Harry P. Knowles (a Master Mason), who died before its completion, and Clinton & Russell. The auditorium and three Masonic lodge rooms included four M.P. Moller pipe organs.