The Met Philadelphia
- Architect
- William H. McElfatrick
- Style
- Neoclassical
- City
- Philadelphia, PA
The Metropolitan Opera House opened in 1908 as the ninth opera house built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I, home to his Philadelphia Opera Company, and was designed by theater architect William H. McElfatrick. In 1910 Hammerstein sold it to New York's Metropolitan Opera, which renamed it and ran it through the 1920s before it passed through decades of reuse as a movie theater, ballroom, sports venue, and mechanic training center.
the building
A church saves the theater. By 1988 the building was in serious disrepair, but in 1995 it became the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center, and the congregation's stabilization work paved the way for a full renovation in 2017-2018 that returned the hall to public use as a concert venue.
the style
McElfatrick designed the opera house in the Neoclassical style typical of the grand theaters of its era, built to project the prestige of Hammerstein's opera ambitions.
More on Neoclassicalthe architect
William H. McElfatrick was an architect who specialized in theater design; the Metropolitan Opera House was his commission for Oscar Hammerstein I's ninth opera house.
significance
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; since December 2018 it has operated as a pop concert venue known as The Met Philadelphia, managed by Live Nation.
nearby
- Divine Lorraine Hotel
- Edwin Forrest House
- Spring Garden School No. 2
- Congregation Rodeph Shalom
- Eastern State Penitentiary
- Inquirer Building