The Legacy of Carnegie Hall: A Glimpse into New York's Iconic Concert Venue

Carnegie Hall is the world’s greatest concert venue known for its superb acoustics for over 3,000 seats.

During the late 1800s,  Andrew Carnegie was the world’s richest man and his steel company was the largest corporation on the planet.

Semi-retired in his mid-30s, he proceeded to give away 90% of his money (the equivalent of $5 billion dollars today) to charity building over 3,000 libraries throughout the world.

Newly married, Carnegie was inspired to build Carnegie Hall by his wife Louise, who sang with the Ontario Society of New York.

The hall was designed by a then unknown 34-year-old architect, William Burnett Tuthill, a cellist who had never built a concert hall before.

Not only did Tuthill conceive an elegant building,  but his work also and most notably gave Carnegie Hall it its legendary sound.

When the Halls Cornerstone was laid in 1891 Carnegie proclaimed that “it is probable that this Hall will intertwine itself with the history of our country”.

This was true from the start when it opened on May 5th 1891 with a spectacular concert that featured Russian composer Tchaikovsky conducting his own music in his American debut.

The packed house had horses and carriages lined up for miles and even the ushers were getting a $1.50 from patrons just to be let in to stand and see Tchaikovsky.

Since then it’s walls have echoed with applause not only for the greatest classical, jazz and popular musicians, but also for the foremost comedians, authors and world figures.

From Tchaikovsky, Duovak, Mahler, Bartok, George Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Van Cliburn, Benny Goodman, Leonard Bernstein, Judy Garland and the Beatles.

Carnegie Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962.