Naumburg Bandshell

1000 5th Avenue | Central Park | built 1923

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1923
September 29
Elkan Naumburg's bandshell opens with a concert for 10,000
Banker Elkan Naumburg, who had paid for free concerts in the park since 1905, gave the city a new bandshell designed by his nephew William G. Tachau. It opened on September 29, 1923, when Franz Kaltenborn led the orchestra and Edwin Franko Goldman's march On the Mall, written in Naumburg's honor, was premiered.
Source: naumburgconcerts.org
1959
April 24
Fidel Castro addresses a crowd of 16,000 at the bandshell
Cuban leader Fidel Castro speaks at the Naumburg Bandshell on April 24, 1959, during a visit to New York. A photograph of the event shows a crowd of 16,000 people gathered before the stage.
Source: naumburgconcerts.org
1993
July 6
New York's highest court stops the bandshell's demolition
By the 1980s the bandshell was badly run down, and the Central Park Conservancy proposed removing it in 1989 and 1991. The Coalition to Save the Naumburg Bandshell sued in 1992, and on July 6, 1993, the state Court of Appeals ruled that it could not be torn down. A restoration was completed in 2021.
Source: naumburgconcerts.org
2021
June
Repairs to the bandshell finish after a year of work
A repair project begins at the Naumburg Bandshell in 2020, paid for by a city grant, the Paulson Family Foundation and a gift from Judith E. Naumburg. The work finishes in June 2021 and addresses numerous problems with the building's physical condition.
Source: naumburgconcerts.org

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