Radio City Music Hall
- Architect
- Edward Durell Stone
- Year
- 1932
- Style
- Art Deco
- City
- Manhattan, NY
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Radio City Music Hall, within Rockefeller Center, opened on December 27, 1932, as the larger of two entertainment venues built for the complex's 'Radio City' section. Designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style, it was built on land originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera house before those plans were canceled in 1929, and it went on to become headquarters for the Rockettes under the nickname 'The Showplace of the Nation.'
the building
The four-tiered auditorium. Radio City's 5,960-seat auditorium was, when built, the world's largest of its kind, its four tiers designed to give every seat clear sightlines to the stage.
A near-bankruptcy and rescue. The theater thrived until the 1970s, when declining attendance nearly forced it into bankruptcy. Landmark designation in May 1978 helped secure its restoration and kept it open, followed by a further extensive renovation in 1999.
the style
Stone and Deskey designed the hall in the Art Deco style, producing a monumental theater interior and marquee that became emblematic of Rockefeller Center's overall design language.
More on Art Decothe architect
Edward Durell Stone designed Radio City Music Hall together with Donald Deskey as part of the broader Rockefeller Center project of the early 1930s.
significance
Radio City Music Hall is a New York City Landmark, designated in May 1978, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places both individually and as a contributing property.
nearby
- 1270 Avenue of the Americas
- 30 Rockefeller Plaza
- Rockefeller Center
- CBS Building
- Exxon Building
- 647 Fifth Avenue Building