Academy of Music
Opened 1857 and the oldest American opera house still used for its original purpose.
The Academy of Music opened on South Broad Street in 1857, built by subscription as a home for opera in Philadelphia. Napoleon LeBrun and Gustavus Runge won the competition with a deliberately plain brick exterior in the German round-arch manner, the money being spent instead on the horseshoe auditorium, which is modelled on La Scala in Milan. Inside are five tiers of boxes and galleries, gilded plasterwork and a large crystal chandelier; the hall seats about 2,500.
It is the oldest opera house in the United States still used for its original purpose, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1962. The Philadelphia Orchestra played here from 1900 until moving to the Kimmel Center in 2001; the building remains the home of Opera Philadelphia and Philadelphia Ballet, and hosts touring Broadway productions. A long programme of restoration work from the mid-1990s renewed the decoration, seating and acoustics ahead of the 150th anniversary.
Highlights
- Oldest opera house in the United States still used for its original purpose
- Horseshoe auditorium modelled on La Scala, with five tiers and a crystal chandelier
- National Historic Landmark, designated in 1962
- Home of Opera Philadelphia and Philadelphia Ballet
