Chickering Hall (New York City, 1875)

The building that once stood at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and Eighteenth Street was Chickering Hall, a red brick and marble structure that became a centerpiece of New York City’s cultural life when it opened in eighteen seventy-five. It was built by the piano manufacturer Chickering and Sons, serving as both a showroom for their instruments and a high-caliber concert venue. The architect, George B. Post, designed the building with a large auditorium that occupied its second and third floors, capable of seating fifteen hundred patrons.