Metropolitan Opera House
Metropolitan Opera House is a massive concert hall and former opera house on North Broad Street that represents one of the largest and most ornate theater interiors ever constructed in the United States. Designed by William McElfatrick and opened in 1908, the 4,000-seat venue hosted opera, vaudeville, concerts, and religious services over its varied history before its recent restoration as a concert venue operated by Live Nation. The building's survival through decades of changing uses and near-demolition makes it a remarkable preservation success story, its gilded interior once again welcoming audiences to performances in a setting of Victorian grandeur.[1]
Design
[edit | edit source]William McElfatrick, a prolific theater architect who designed over 400 venues across North America, created the Metropolitan Opera House as one of the largest and most elaborate theaters in the country. The auditorium, with approximately 4,000 seats arranged in orchestra, balcony, and gallery levels, approaches the scale of European opera houses while exceeding most American venues of any era. The interior features elaborate gilded ornament, a massive chandelier, and decorative painting that creates an environment of theatrical splendor appropriate to the performances it was designed to host.[2]
The exterior presents an ornate facade to North Broad Street, though the building's architectural impact derives primarily from its interior volume and decoration. The structure's steel frame and load-bearing masonry enabled the vast interior spaces that distinguish the Metropolitan from smaller contemporary theaters. The stage house, with its fly tower and backstage facilities, could accommodate the elaborate productions that opera required. The building's construction represented significant investment in North Philadelphia's cultural infrastructure during the area's prosperous decades.[1]
Performance History
[edit | edit source]The Metropolitan Opera House opened with a performance by the Philadelphia-Chicago Grand Opera Company, beginning an association with opera that gave the building its name though not its exclusive function. Oscar Hammerstein I, the impresario grandfather of the famous lyricist, conceived the venue as competition to the Academy of Music downtown, seeking to establish North Broad Street as a rival cultural destination. Opera performances continued intermittently, though the building's enormous capacity made it more suitable for popular entertainment than for the relatively small audiences that supported opera.[2]
Vaudeville, concerts, and other popular entertainment occupied the Metropolitan during much of the twentieth century, with performers including the Marx Brothers, Enrico Caruso, Sergei Rachmaninoff, and countless others appearing on its stage. The building's size made it appropriate for events requiring large audiences, though this same scale created economic challenges as entertainment patterns changed. The Metropolitan's history reflects the broader evolution of American popular entertainment, from vaudeville through rock concerts to contemporary performances.[1]
Religious Use
[edit | edit source]The Metropolitan Opera House served as a church for various congregations from the 1950s through 2017, beginning with the Holy Ghost Headquarters Revival Center and continuing with the Holy Ghost Assemblies of God. Religious use preserved the building when many comparable theaters faced demolition, maintaining the structure through decades when its entertainment function had ceased. The congregation's stewardship, though limited in resources, prevented the deterioration that destroyed other historic theaters. The stained glass ceiling panels and religious imagery added during this period layered additional meaning onto the original theatrical decoration.[2]
The transition from theater to church reflected both the building's economic challenges and North Broad Street's demographic changes. As the neighborhood's population shifted and entertainment patterns evolved, the Metropolitan could no longer attract audiences sufficient to sustain theatrical operation. Religious use provided an alternative that maintained the building's assembly function while adapting to changed community needs. The church's presence preserved the Metropolitan until conditions enabled its restoration to entertainment use.[1]
Restoration
[edit | edit source]Live Nation Entertainment completed restoration of the Metropolitan Opera House in 2018, returning the venue to concert use after major renovation. The project addressed decades of deferred maintenance while preserving the interior's historic character, restoring gilded ornament and theatrical equipment to functional condition. The restored Metropolitan now hosts contemporary concerts in a setting of Victorian splendor, its audience capacity making it competitive with modern arenas while offering architectural distinction that new construction cannot match.[2]
The restoration demonstrates that large historic theaters can be adapted to contemporary entertainment use when circumstances align. The Metropolitan's survival through religious use preserved a building that might otherwise have been demolished during North Broad Street's difficult decades. Live Nation's investment reflects confidence in both the venue's appeal and the neighborhood's revitalization potential. The Metropolitan Opera House now anchors a stretch of North Broad Street that shows signs of renewed vitality after decades of decline.[1]