Brooklyn Academy of Music
30 Lafayette Avenue | Fort Greene | built 1908
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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.
- 1903
After fire destroys BAM's Montague Street home, a committee picks a Lafayette Avenue block of houses and stables
The old Brooklyn Academy of Music burned on the morning of November 30, 1903, while a banquet was being prepared. A committee of 100 led by Borough President Martin W. Littleton raised over a million dollars to rebuild. It chose the south side of Lafayette Avenue, where fifteen mid-19th-century residences and a few stables then stood. Realtor J.B. Davenport obtained the site.
- 1908
Herts & Tallant's cream brick and terra-cotta building replaces a first plan for a marble facade
The facade was first drawn in marble, in a neo-Italian Renaissance style, but financial limits led to a redesign in light brick and polychrome terra cotta. A cornice carried 22 full-sized lion's heads, and cherubs alternated with ancient musical instruments around the entrance doors. The terra cotta came from the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, and the cornice was removed in the mid-20th century.
“…originally designed in marble, was simplified and redesigned in light colored brick and polychrome terra-cotta because of financial constraints.”
- 1908
The new Academy opens with a recital by Ernestine Schumann-Heink, followed by Faust with Caruso
The new Academy opened its doors on October 1, 1908, with a Concert Hall recital by Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink. The capacity crowd was enthusiastic and praised the building's perfect acoustics. In November the Opera House opened with Faust, starring Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso.
“The new Academy opened on October 1, 1908, with a recital in the Concert Hall by Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink.”
- 1920
Enrico Caruso suffers a throat hemorrhage on the stage and the performance is cancelled
On December 11, 1920, the tenor was in the Metropolitan Opera's production of L'elisir d'amore at the Academy when a throat hemorrhage struck him onstage and the show was called off. Nearly two weeks later his last performance ever came at the Met, and he died the following year at age 48.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1940
Franklin D. Roosevelt speaks to a packed house while thousands listen from the street
Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a packed house at the Academy in 1940, and thousands more listened from the street outside. Winston Churchill was another speaker who appeared there, alongside performers such as Isadora Duncan, Paul Robeson, Sarah Bernhardt and Rudolph Nureyev.
Source: brownstoner.com
- 1951
The city takes over the building and leases it back for ninety years, then renovates it
In 1951 the Board of Estimate approved a plan under which the city would take over the building and lease it back to the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences for ninety years at a nominal rent. A 1953 renovation remodeled the Concert Hall for drama and dance and replaced the terra-cotta parapet with a stone and brick one.
“…the Board of Estimate approved a plan for the city to take over the Academy building in 1951 and then lease it back for a period of ninety years…”
- 1967
Harvey Lichtenstein becomes director and begins the Academy's revival as BAM
Appointed director in 1967, Harvey Lichtenstein introduced the acronym BAM. In the 1968-69 season nine dance companies performed at the Academy, among them those of Merce Cunningham and Alvin Ailey and the newly formed American Ballet Company of Eliot Feld.
- 2024
Mark Morris Dance Group brings The Hard Nut, its 1970s Nutcracker, back for an eighth BAM run
Mark Morris's The Hard Nut opened at BAM on December 12, 2024, in its eighth run there. Set in the 1970s with a look inspired by comic artist Charles Burns, it replaces the Nutcracker's dolls with a Barbie doll and a robot and sets G.I. Joes against the rats. The company rehearsed for only ten days before opening night, as is its custom.
Source: brooklynpaper.com
Further reading
- Brooklyn Academy of MusicWikipedia
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