 |
|
|
Located at 311 West 34th Street, in the heart of midtown New York City, the landmark Manhattan Center building still stands 100 years after it was first built as the Manhattan Opera House by Oscar Hammerstein in 1906. With the bold intention to take on the established Metropolitan Opera by featuring cheaper seats for the ordinary New Yorker, it provided an alternative venue for many great operas and celebrated singers to make their debut.
In the following years, ownership changed a few times and in 1922 the Manhattan Opera House was finally purchased by the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of Free Masonry. The Masons built the Grand Ballroom on the seventh floor as well as a new building facade.
In the year 1926, Warner Brothers premiered Don Juan, billing it as the very first commercially released film featuring a recorded musical soundtrack. The Manhattan Opera House was the venue chosen by Sam Warner to set up the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system used to capture the 107-piece New York Philharmonic orchestra. Today, more than 75 years later, Manhattan Center continues to be New York’s premier scoring stage due to its superior acoustics.
The name of the building was changed to Manhattan Center in 1940, helping to attract many other types of events. The Manhattan Center became a hot spot for “big band” dances as well as trade shows, union meetings
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
and other social functions. Among the diverse events held at Manhattan Center throughout the decades that followed were radio broadcasts, recordings, and performances by the likes of Paul Robeson (1941), Harry Belafonte (1952), Perry Como (1959), Leonard Bernstein (1960), The Grateful Dead (1971), and Bob Marley (1975).
In 1976, the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity (The Unification Church) purchased the building. The church used the Grand Ballroom for various religious and cultural events, but also rented it out for other public uses, including music recording.
In 1986, Manhattan Center Studios (MCS) was formed with the purpose of developing a multimedia company. In accordance with this mission, MCS expanded the audio recording facilities in 1993 when Studio 4, known as the Log Cabin, became operational. Studio 7 was rebuilt in 1996 to become a state-of-the-art control room capable of servicing all types of recordings and live events in the Grand Ballroom and Hammerstein Ballroom. While the recording studios were first used as in-house studios, they soon became open to the wider audio recording community. Attracting an impressive roster of clients, the company continued to focus on the production and promotion of original music as well as the development of a roster of emerging recording artists and performers.
|
|
|
|
