Detailed Information

The Town Hall was built between 1919 and 1921, to a Georgian Revival design by architect firm McKim, Mead & White. The 1,500 seat auditorium is split between two levels. The stage was designed for concerts and recitals and so does not have a traditional stagehouse to allow for the flying of scenery.

According to Wikipedia , the first public-affairs media programming, the America’s Town Meeting of the Air radio program, broadcast from Town Hall between 1935 and 1956.

New York University (NYU) leased Town Hall in 1955. Within a few months, The New York Times wrote that “Town Hall was much emptier than usual by too high a rent scale.“ This was worsened by the opening of Lincoln Center in 1962 which drew events away from the Town Hall. The theatre’s original organ was removed in 1960 and sold to raise money.

The venue declined in popularity and in 1978 NYU closed the auditorium due to financial shortfalls. After Town Hall’s closure was announced, the Committee to Save Town Hall organized a campaign to preserve the venue. The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the façade and auditorium as city landmarks in late 1978.

At the end of the 1970s, the Town Hall Foundation took over ownership of the venue and rented it out regularly for events. The financial income allowed for renovations to take place in stages, culminating in a successful application for listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The Town Hall became profitable by the late 1990s and has continued since then to present diverse and engaging entertainment within the century-old auditorium.