"The Showplace of the Nation" | |
.jpg) Radio City Music Hall in 2021 | |
 | |
| Location | 1260 Avenue of the Americas (Sixth Avenue) Manhattan, New York |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 40°45′35″N 73°58′45″W / 40.75972°N 73.97917°W |
| Owner | Tishman Speyer Properties[1] |
| Operator | Madison Square Garden Entertainment |
| Type | Concert hall, entertainment venue |
| Seating type | Raked |
| Capacity | 5,960 |
| Opened | December 27, 1932 |
Radio City Music Hall | |
| Area | 2 acres (0.8 ha) |
| Architect | Edward Durell Stone Donald Deskey |
| Architectural style | Art Deco |
| Part of | Rockefeller Center (ID87002591[3]) |
| NRHP reference No. | 78001880[2] |
| NYCL No. | 0995 (interior) 1446 (exterior) |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | May 8, 1978 |
| Designated CP | December 23, 1987 |
| Designated NYCL | March 28, 1978 (interior)[4] April 23, 1985 (exterior)[5] |
Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and theater at 1260 Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style.
Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being Center Theatre; the "Radio City" name came to apply only to Radio City Music Hall. It was largely successful until the 1970s, when declining patronage nearly drove the theater to bankruptcy. Radio City was designated a New York City Landmark in May 1978, and it was restored and allowed to remain open. The theater was extensively renovated in 1999.
Radio City's four-tiered auditorium was the world's largest when it opened. The theater also contains a variety of art. Although Radio City was initially intended to host stage shows, within a year of its opening it was converted into a movie palace, hosting performances in a film-and-stage-spectacle format through the 1970s, and was the site of several movie premieres. By the late 20th and early 21st centuries, it primarily hosted concerts, including by leading pop and rock musicians, and live stage shows such as the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Radio City has also hosted televised events including the Grammy Awards, the Tony Awards, the Daytime Emmy Awards, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the NFL Draft, as well as university graduation ceremonies.
- ^ "Rockefeller Center". Tishman Speyer Properties. Archived from the original on November 16, 2010. Retrieved November 21, 2009.
- ^ "National Register Information System – Radio City Music Hall (#78001880)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ "National Register Information System – Rockefeller Center (#87002591)". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
- ^ Landmarks Preservation Commission 1978.
- ^ Adams 1985.