In the 1920s when a move to a larger space seemed inevitable, many New Yorkers were in opposition. The Old Met’s interior was beloved and its acoustics were generally considered to be great, though one acoustics expert told The New York Times that while “the acoustics of the present opera house are considered good as a whole, although somewhat freakish.” However, the backstage facilities did not provide sufficient room for the Opera Company to work.
Ultimately, the depression put to rest to any other thoughts of moving the opera house. Rockefeller Center was briefly considered as an alternative site since the land was to be leased from Columbia University until 1931.
Luckily, we still have Urban’s plans for the proposed grandiose opera house. By early 1928, the 57th Street plans were dropped. However, not everyone was on board with the location and alternatives were researched as far north as 110th Street and 5th Avenue. This announcement caused a real estate boom in the area. They were tasked with designing the monumental new opera house, which would be located on 57th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. In 1927, Benjamin Wistar Morris (who designed the Cunard Building) was appointed architect and Joseph Urban (who designed the original Zigfield Theater) was named associate architect. This new opera house would have a seating capacity of 4,000 (from 3,500), fewer boxes (which also would be leased and not bought), and it would be “a plain and dignified opera house, rather than an ornamental or monumental one.” Their definitions of “plain and dignified” are debatable since an official at the Opera Company stated that “here is only one style of architecture that would do for a new Opera House in New York, and that is the modern New York Style a skyscraper with towers and terraces in the revised Babylonian style.” Kahn, the President of the Metropolitan Opera Company and Chairman of its Board of Directors, was driving force behind the plan to erect a new opera house further uptown.
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