Cincinnati Music Hall
Music Hall, commonly known as Cincinnati Music Hall, is a classical music performance hall in Cincinnati, Ohio, completed in 1878. It serves as the home for the Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, May Festival Chorus, and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. In January 1975, it was recognized as a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior for its distinctive Venetian Gothic architecture. The building was designed with a dual purpose – to house musical activities in its central auditorium and industrial exhibitions in its side wings. It is located at 1241 Elm Street, across from the historic Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine, minutes from the center of the downtown area.
Music Hall was built over a pauper's cemetery, which has helped fuel its reputation as one of the most haunted places in America.
In June 2014, Music Hall was included on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's annual list of America's 11 most endangered historic places. After being closed for over a year for a $143 million renovation, Music Hall was reopened in 2017.
Venues
Springer Auditorium is the main auditorium, named in honor of founding patron Reuben Springer. It seats 2,289 people for symphony performances and 2,439 people for the Cincinnati Pops. Prior to recent sweeping revitalization efforts, which eliminated many seats in favor of increasing seat size universally, it was the second-largest traditional auditorium or opera house by capacity in the nation. Springer serves as home for the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Cincinnati Ballet, the Cincinnati Opera, as well as the May Festival.Springer Auditorium also houses the iconic Music Hall Chandelier. The Czechoslovak piece was sent to the United States in pieces, and was officially installed in Springer Auditorium in the early 1970s. It was found and purchased by the Corbett Family as they financed the multi-year renovation of the auditorium. The chandelier weighs approximately 1,500 pounds with a diameter of 21 feet. It also includes 96 candles, each lit with an individual bulb.
Music Hall Ballroom accommodates up to 1,300 people, and is the second largest meeting space in the city, encompassing nearly. It is frequently used for large receptions, exhibitions, fashion shows, class reunions and breakfast, lunch and dinner gatherings.
Prior to 1974 the space was known as the Topper Ballroom and has been managed by numerous outside organizations since its opening in 1928. Additionally, the space has undergone numerous renovations such as those in 1935, 1947, 1959, and a $1.8 million renovation of the Ballroom in October 1998. In July 2007, organ rebuilder Ronald F. Wehmeier of Cincinnati announced the Mighty Wurlitzer theater organ that once graced the old Albee Theater in Cincinnati would be restored and installed in Music Hall's Ballroom for a New Year's Eve 2009 debut.
Corbett Tower was originally known as Dexter Hall, in honor of a member of the Music Hall Building Committee. The 3rd floor space originally served as a performance hall for the College of Music of Cincinnati. Later, the tower was used for radio and television broadcasts, both for the College of Music and WCET. In 1972 the space was renovated and renamed for the longtime Music Hall patrons, J. Ralph and Patricia Corbett. The Corbett Foundation also financed the renovation and limited restoration of the space again in 1994.
Corbett Tower serves as the setting for a wide variety of events, ranging from weddings and receptions to grand dinners and parties. It has seating for up to 200 and includes a stage, controlled sound and light systems, dance floor, kitchen, and bar facilities. Corbett Tower is located on the third floor near the front of the building.
Wilks Studio is a new, multi-use space added following the 2016–17 renovation of Music Hall. It serves as a rehearsal room or event space for weddings, receptions, fundraisers, meetings, or other gatherings, seating up to 200 people. From the North Concourse on the Balcony Level, enter through the door at the top of the stairs which leads to the Studio Lobby. Additionally, this space is used for rehearsals and small performances by both the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Opera.
Other Facilities
The building also contains the Taft Suite, a private space that stores the restored panels of the historic Hook and Hastings Organ, and well as the Music Hall Foyer which is used as a gathering space for both larger performances and private events.
Architecture
Cincinnati Music Hall was designed by architect Samuel Hannaford and is considered one of the last and best examples of the Victorian Gothic Revival Style. Some of the spaces most notable features include the steeply pitched gable roof, the corbelled brick, the tracery featured on the front windows, and the large Rose Window on the facade of the building. Additionally, the facility varies from a traditional performance hall in the fact that Music Hall is actually made up of 3 distinct and separate buildings; Music Hall, the North Exposition Building, and the South Exposition Building. The design also includes Carriage Passageways designed for easy entrance in the case of bad weather. Each building also includes individual sandstone carvings, designed to display the different purposes of each space. The center building, Music Hall, has musical instruments such as French horns included on the facade, flowers and birds are included on the South Exposition Hall to represent its horticultural heritage, and scientific tools are featured on the North Exposition Hall to represent its mechanical heritage.The building was also known for its detailed brickwork, which included both carved and painted details on the building's exterior. However, during the 1969–1975 renovation, the building's exterior was sandblasted, destroying the majority of these details.
History
Pre-construction
On September 13, 1818, the City of Cincinnati purchased a plot of land from Jesse Embree for $3,200 on the west side of Elm Street, just north of 12th Street. On January 22, 1821, the Ohio State Legislature passed an act that established "a Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum for the state of Ohio." Thus, Ohio's first insane asylum was erected in Cincinnati on of land bounded by the Miami and Erie Canal. The Commercial Hospital and Lunatic Asylum of Ohio was the parent institution for the Orphan Asylum, the City Infirmary, the Cincinnati Hospital, and Longview Asylum. Cincinnati Hospital, the main facility, was located along the canal at 12th and Plum Streets, which is now 12th and Central Parkway.Following the Cholera outbreak of 1832, the land was used as a "pauper's cemetery" until 1857 when city encroachment on the neighborhood made it unsuitable for such uses. Serious complaints from abutting property owners forced the "Pest House" to be relocated outside of the city limits. On January 29, 1859, the city converted the property into a park known as Elm Street Park and the land and buildings were used for exposition purposes until 1876 when it was turned over to the Music Hall Association.
Choir festivals and expositions
Cincinnati's first industrial exposition, which was in 1869, was a great success so the city wanted to expand it the following year. At the same time, German musicians had plans to erect "a great temporary building opposite Washington Park" for the North American Saengerbund, which Cincinnati was to host during the summer of 1870. The two competing groups reached an agreement to construct a building that would be shared. Depending on its use, the building was sometimes called Exposition Hall or Saengerfest Hall.Exposition Hall
Exposition Hall was a huge wooden structure measuring long, wide, and tall. Additionally, there were three other temporary buildings attached to it for a total floor space of —more than that of the 1853 World's Fair in New York City. It was the location of the 1876 Republican National Convention, which nominated Rutherford B. Hayes for the presidency. The roof of the building was covered in tin. According to lore, a thunderstorm arose during an 1875 May Festival performance. Rain on the tin roof grew so loud that the chorus was drowned out and the performance had to cease. In the audience during that performance was Reuben R. Springer, a wealthy Cincinnatian of German ancestry, who afterwards decided Cincinnati needed a more permanent structure.Construction
Springer, influenced by the beneficial results the industrial expositions and musical festivals had on the city, wrote a letter in May 1875 to John Shillito, owner of Shillito's department store, offering to donate $125,000 under two conditions. First, that the site be free from taxation, and second, that a further sum of $125,000 be raised by the community. When only $106,000 was raised Springer donated an additional $20,000. From the outset, the musical and industrial interests collided, so Springer offered an additional $50,000 if $100,000 could be raised. This additional sum of money would be used for the construction of buildings around the hall for the purpose of holding industrial expositions. The total cost of Music Hall was $300,962.78 with the exposition wings an additional $146,331.51.Along with other community leaders such as Julius Dexter, W. H. Harrison, T. D. Lincoln, Joseph Longworth, Robert Mitchell, John Shillito and Reuben Springer organized the Music Hall Association to build the new hall. The group oversaw the construction and fundraising necessary to complete the space.
Construction on Cincinnati Music Hall began in 1876, shortly after Hannaford and Porter was given the contract. The project was divided into multiple phases, first focusing on the construction of the center building, Music Hall. Following several issues regarding weather and resources, the project was fast tracked in hopes of completing work on Music Hall prior to the 1878 May Festival Chorus performance.
After Music Hall was completed, new funds were raised and resources were allocated for the completion of both the Northern and Southern Exposition Halls, two spaces utilized as the City of Cincinnati's primary convention spaces from their construction through the 1970s.
Although the 3 buildings were constructed separately, they were immediately joined together using second story passageways. This allowed for events to span all 3 spaces while also allowing several groups to share this space at once.