Academy of Music
Manhattan, United States
No longer standing
Demolished or destroyed.
The Academy of Music was a 4,000-seat opera house that opened on October 2, 1854, at the northeast corner of East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. Though The New York Times praised its acoustics as a "triumph," the newspaper criticized nearly every other aspect of its architecture and design. The theater became the social epicenter of New York's elite, whose oldest families claimed the prestigious box seats. Destroyed by fire in 1866 and rebuilt, the Academy dominated operatic life in the city until 1883, when the Metropolitan Opera House at 1411 Broadway displaced it as the premier venue—established by wealthy newcomers excluded from the Academy's exclusive circles. The house shifted to vaudeville in 1886 and was demolished in 1926 to make room for the Consolidated Edison Building.
- Built
- Type
- opera house, destroyed building or structure
- Place
- Manhattan, United States
This building on
Architecturally similar
Metropolitan Opera HouseUpper West Side, United States
Academy of MusicPhiladelphia, United States
Detroit Opera HouseDetroit, United States
Boston Opera HouseBoston, United States
Century TheatreManhattan, United States
Metropolitan Opera HouseManhattan, United States
Music Hall Center for the Performing ArtsDetroit, United States
Orpheum TheatreBoston, United States
Location