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Cincinnati Music Hall: then and now

After 1898 vs 2013 · Cincinnati, OH

Cincinnati Music Hall, 2013Cincinnati Music Hall, After 1898
NowThen
Then, After 1898A postcard of the red-brick hall across the park, with trees in front.Photo: Detroit Publishing Company · Public domain · Source · resized, cropped
Today, 2013The brick facade and towers of the hall seen from Elm Street.Photo: Ohio Redevelopment Projects - ODSA · CC BY 2.0 · Source · resized

The story

Music Hall was completed in 1878. It was designed for two jobs: music in the central auditorium and industrial exhibitions in the side wings. It sits across from Washington Park in Over-the-Rhine.

The building is in the Venetian Gothic style, and it became a National Historic Landmark in the mid-1970s (Wikipedia gives both December 1974 and January 1975). It is home to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Pops, the Ballet and the Opera.

Springer Auditorium has a Czechoslovak chandelier that weighs about 1,500 pounds, is 21 feet wide and has 96 candles. After more than a year closed for a $143 million renovation, the hall reopened in 2017.

Did you know? The chandelier has 96 candles.
Historians argue about this. Many people think a famous hall like this was built on empty land. Wikipedia says it was built over a pauper's cemetery.

Fact or tall tale?

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

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Next: Carew Tower. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.