OLD METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE
Broadway and 40th Street
1883-1967

In “The Age of Innocence,” a novel of New York society set in the 1870’s, Edith Wharton wrote that “there was already talk of the erection, in remote metropolitan distances ‘above the Forties,’ of a new Opera House which should compete in costliness and splendor with those of the great European capitals.”

Indeed, when the block long Italian Renaissance style Metropolitan Opera House was opened in 1883, The New York Times fretted that the auditorium was “on a scale of possibly too great magnitude” and that its lavish interior would “dazzle the eyes.” That interior, which was subsequently redesigned by Carrère and Hastings, architects of the New York Public Library, featured an elite set of boxes in an area known as the Diamond Horseshoe, which was occupied by Astors, Vanderbilts and other millionaire patrons.

Anticipating its move to the planned Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera gave its last performance at the Old Met in 1966.



New York City: Metropolitan Opera House 1902

The first Metropolitan Opera House was opened on October 22 1883, nicknamed “The Yellow Brick Brewery” for its industrial looking exterior, it was gutted by fire in 1892. In 1903 the interior of the opera house was extensively redesigned by the architects Carrère and Hastings. The old Met closed on April 16, 1966, having failed to obtain landmark building status, it was demolished in 1967. It was replaced by a modern office building intended to provide a steady income for the opera company.