Carnegie Hall (156 W. 57th St. – SE corner of Seventh Avenue) was designed (1891) in a revivalist brick and brownstone Italian Renaissance style by William Burnet Tuthill. Richard Morris Hunt and Dankmar Adler were consultants. It is built entirely of masonry, without a steel frame. Somewhat derelict and not too far from the wrecking ball, the building was well-restored in 1986. The building is praised for its sound quality and is constantly booked. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky conducted the opening night. The Hall was a favorite of conductors Gustav Mahler, Arthur Nikisch, Willem Mengelberg, Sir Thomas Beecham, Pierre Monteux, Fritz Reiner, Charles Munch, Leopold Stokowski, George Szell, and Bruno Waltert all have conducted there. Celebrities from all walks including Winston Churchill, Count Basie, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Dizzy Gillespie, Van Cliburn, The Beatles and Martin Luther King, Jr. have appeared at Carnegie Hall.
Richard Morris Hunt
(b. 1827 Brattleboro, VT – d. Newport, RI 1895)
was from a wealthy, early American Colonial family. His fortune allowed him to move to Paris in 1843, where he studied architecture, painting, and sculpture at the École des Beaux-Arts. Later Hunt traveled throughout Europe to enhance his classical education in art and architecture. He became an assistant at the École in 1854 and moved back to New York in 1855, although he traveled back to Europe several times.In 1873, he built the Tribune Building, an early skyscraper, in New York. He also worked for many of the aristocrats of the day. In 1881, Hunt redesigned the John Jacob Astor summer home (Beechwood, in Newport, RI). He designed several important buildings for the Vanderbilts: William K. Vanderbilt's summer home (1888: Marble House, in Newport, RI); William K's Fifth Avenue home in New York City (1877-1881); Cornelius Vanderbilt II's 'The Breakers', also in Newport (1893; now a hotel); and the Vanderbilt Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC (1895; with Frederick Law Olmsted, the landscape architect). Hunt's architectural style was influenced by his stay in France, and his fondness for the French Renaissance stayed throughout his career. He designed the pedestal and base for Statue of Liberty (1886). He worked on the façade for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City (1890-92). Hunt designed The Administration Building at the World's Columbian Exposition (1893, Chicago) and he finished the U.S. Naval Observatory in Washington, DC the same year. Hunt was one of the founders of the American Institute of Architects.
Andrew Carnegie
(b. 1835 Dunfermline, Scotland – d. Lenox, MA 1919)
was the son of a weaver. He came with his family to the United States in 1848 and settled in Allegheny, PA. At 13, Carnegie went to work as a bobbin boy in a cotton mill. A benefactor, Colonel Allen, threw his 400-book library open to Carnegie and other boys, and permitted them to borrow any book they wanted. Carnegie never forgot this gesture. His father died when he was 16. Carnegie moved rapidly through a succession of jobs with Western Union and the Pennsylvania Railroad. During the Civil War, he was in charge of Union telegraph service.In 1865, with partners, he began a sleeping-car business, from which he was to make a profit of $200,000. Afterwards, he formed a company that made structural iron for bridges. This was the beginning of his fortune. His timing was perfect; the country was about to expand. Carnegie brought the Bessemer steel process from Europe to America. In 1899, he named his business the Carnegie Steel Corporation. The infamous Homested Steel riot would forever stain his reputation, although Carnegie was abroad when it happened. At one point, Carnegie was the richest man in America. When he was 65, he sold Carnegie Steel to J. P. Morgan for $420 million, and devoted the rest of his life to his philanthropic activities and his writings. He wrote his autobiography. The Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh was begun by him with a $6 million grant. Some called him a socialist because he said 'A heavy progressive tax upon wealth at death of owner is not only desirable, it is strictly just.' He favored the income tax. An anti-imperialist, he offered the U.S. Government $25 million to grant the Philippines independence. Carnegie believed, and said, that the rich should give away their fortunes. Remembering his benefactor Colonel Allen, Carnegie established free public libraries so anyone could educate themselves. When he began his campaign, only a few public libraries in the world were free. He and his charitable corporation spent over $56 million and built 2,509 libraries throughout the English-speaking world. During his lifetime, Carnegie gave away over $350 million. He grew flowers as a hobby. He was a member of Lotos, and the Union League Clubs, and for 27 years, he was president of the New York Oratorio Society.
William Burnet Tuthill
(b. 1855 NYC – d. NYC 1929)
was the architect for Carnegie Hall at the age of 30. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1875 and later obtained a master's degree there. He worked for two years in the office of Richard Morris Hunt. He was a founder of the Architectural League of New York and served on the Art Commission of the Columbian Exposition at Chicago in 1893. He was assisted on Carnegie Hall by Dankmar Adler and Louis H. Sullivan, who had designed the Auditorium in Chicago. Tuthill, a trained musician, studied the concert halls of Europe and he became a consultant on acoustics to many halls in the United States. He lectured on architectural history and acoustics for Columbia University, the University of Cincinnati and the New York City Board of Education.For 36 years he was secretary and manager of the New York Oratorio Society. In addition, he was a cellist and played in a quartet for many years. He wrote numerous books; his 'Practical Lessons in Architectural Drawing' was printed in many editions. His designs included the Jekyll Island Club, Jekyll Island, GA. (1888); Princeton Inn, Princeton, NJ (1893); Carnegie Library, Pittsburgh, PA (1894); Columbia Yacht Club, (1890); and the Schinasi Residence, NYC (1909).
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1) Upper West Side Map [20]
