The Construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (1959-69)

Original plans for Lincoln Square Development Plan
as approved October 31, 1956 show many proposed changes to the area. Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts was just one element to the plan.

By the 1950s, two of the United States’ oldest performing arts organizations—The Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic—were searching for new homes. Meanwhile, Robert Moses was leading the massive Lincoln Square Urban Renewal Project. This convergence led to the imagination and construction of the world’s first modern performing arts center. This is the story of how Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts was constructed.

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The Empire State Building can be seen in the distance of this aerial view of four completed buildings on the Lincoln Center site, July 16, 1965.

Lincoln Center transformed 16.3 acres of Manhattan's Upper West Side into the cultural heart of New York City.

Philharmonic Hall glows against the dark New York City night.

World's Fair and Lincoln Center for Performing Arts Sign "Memorandum of Understanding" (April 6, 1961)

On April 6, 1961, Lincoln Center signed a memorandum of understanding to become the cultural arm of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.

The New York State Theater’s opening night performance would be the first cultural program under this agreement.

In this image, Robert Moses (left), president of the 1964-1965 New York World’s Fair, and General Maxwell D. Taylor, president of Lincoln Center, sign the memorandum. Renderings of the Unisphere and Lincoln Center are featured in the background.

Members of the New York City Ballet testing the stage of the New York State Theater (May 14, 1963)

The stage floor of the New York State Theater was specially designed for the dance. Here they are testing a mock-up of that flooring in the New York State Theater. George Balanchine is visible on the left-hand side of the image (not wearing a hardhat).

Members of the New York City Ballet testing the stage of the New York State Theater (May 14, 1963)

Notice the hole on the side of the York State Theater? A section of the new building needed to be removed so that Elie Nadelman’s giant twin sculptures—each 20 feet high—could be brought into the building.

Elie Nadelman’s giant sculptures—Circus Women (front) and Two Female Nudes (rear)—are installed in the promenade of the New York State Theater.

The floorplan for the Lincoln Center theaters and the New York Public Library shows how they share the building.

Construction continues on the combined Lincoln Center Theater/New York Public Library building. This image shows the brickwork for the structure that will houses the research collections of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Below that, the open space became the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Below that, the sidewalk level houses the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater.

The Repertory Theater of Lincoln Center, which resided at Lincoln Center until 1973, inaugurated the theater with a revival of a Georg Büchner’s 1835 play Danton's Death, featuring James Earl Jones and Stacy Keach. The building is now the domain of Lincoln Center Theater.

Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center - Longitudinal Section

1. Main stage (with seven hydraulic platforms)
2. Orchestra space
3. Auditorium
4. Main lobby (entrance Plaza Level)
5. Lower lobby (entrance Garage Level)
6. Restaurant
7. Control (lighting-sound)
8. Mechanical area (sub-stage)
9. First grid (working level)
10. Second grid (motor drives - 107 sound pipes)
11. Back stage
12. Scenery stage
13. Shops
14. Paint frame area
15. Rehearsal area

The building was based on chief architect Wallace Harrison’s forty-third design. It is the length of one-and-a-half football fields and boasts five stages.

Marc Chagall's paintings, The Triumph of Music (shown here) and The Sources of Music, are an iconic aspect of the Metropolitan Opera House. Chagall unveiled his murals in the Metropolitan Opera House on September 8, 1966.

The foundation for the Alice Tully Hall and The Juilliard School rises at the corner of 65th street and Columbus Avenue.

Here, construction on the stage and auditorium of Alice Tully Hall begins. Iron work for The Juilliard School is visible to the right, while Philharmonic Hall can be seen in the upper left-hand corner.

Moore's sculpture enjoys a snowy day with Philharmonic Hall in the background.

Alexander Calder was commissioned to create a piece of art for the complex. Here, he poses as his abstract sculpture is installed behind him. The piece sits in front of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

"Le Guichet" (1963) is Calder's playful take on a hand reaching through a ticket window. The side of the Met Opera is seen in the background.

Lincoln Center became the cultural heartbeat of New York City. Each year over 6 million people visit Lincoln Center and its 11 resident organizations:

The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, The Film Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Ballet, New York Philharmonic,
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, School of American Ballet, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.