Former names | Philadelphia Opera House (1908-10) Metropolitan Opera House (1910-84) Philadelphia Evangelistic Center (1984-88) |
---|---|
Address | 858 N Broad St Philadelphia, PA 19130-2234 |
Location | Fairmount |
Coordinates | 39°58′13″N 75°9′38″W / 39.97028°N 75.16056°W |
Owner | Eric Blumenfeld |
Operator | Live Nation Philadelphia |
Capacity | 3,500 |
Construction | |
Opened | November 17, 1908 |
Renovated |
|
Closed | 1988 |
Reopened | December 3, 2018 |
Construction cost | $2 million ($67.8 million in 2023 dollars[1]) |
Architect | William H. McElfatrick |
Structural engineer | Phoenix Iron Company |
General contractor |
|
Website | |
Venue Website | |
Building details | |
General information | |
Renovation cost | $56 million |
Renovating team | |
Architect(s) | Atkin Olshin Schade Architects |
Structural engineer | David Chou & Associates |
Services engineer | Concord Engineering Group |
Main contractor | Domus Construction |
Metropolitan Opera House | |
Architectural style | Classical Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 72001163[2] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | February 1, 1972 |
Designated PRHP | June 29, 1971[3] |
The Metropolitan Opera House is a historic opera house and current pop concert venue located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has been used for many different purposes over its history. Now known as The Met, the theatre reopened in December 2018, after a complete renovation, as a concert venue. It is managed by Live Nation Philadelphia.[4]
Built over the course of just a few months in 1908, it was the ninth opera house built by impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. It was initially the home of Hammerstein's Philadelphia Opera Company, and called the "Philadelphia Opera House". Hammerstein sold the house to the Metropolitan Opera of New York City in 1910, when it was renamed. The Met used the theatre through 1920, after which various opera companies used the house through 1934.
For over five more decades it remained in constant use in turn as a movie theater, a ballroom, a sports venue, mechanic training center, and a church. The building then fell into serious disrepair and was unused and vacant from 1988 until 1995, when it became the "Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center at the Met". The church stabilized much of the building, eventually paving the way for the latest renovation of the opera house in 2017–2018.
The opera house has been included in the National Register of Historic Places since 1972.[5]