Lewisohn Stadium
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Lewisohn Stadium was an amphitheater and athletic facility built on the campus of the City College of New York, and opened in 1915. The Doric-colonnaded amphitheater was built between Amsterdam and Convent Avenues, from 136th to 138th Street. It was demolished in 1973 to make way for the $125 million North Academic Center. Financier and philanthropist Adolph Lewisohn donated the money for construction. The stadium hosted many athletic, musical, and theatrical events and was one of New York's public landmarks.
The stadium was located in the block bounded by Amsterdam and Convent Avenues and 135th and 136th Streets.[1]
Though it was demolished in 1973, the stadium was never forgotten by people of a certain age who paid 25 or 50 cents to sit under the stars on summer nights and listen to great orchestras and performers. There, Ella Fitzgerald sang with the Metropolitan Opera; Marian Anderson and Eugene Ormandy gave their first concerts; George Gershwin played his Rhapsody in Blue for the first time. Performers ranged from Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin to Leontyne Price, Pete Seeger and Jack Benny.
[edit] References
- ^ Automobile Blue Book, Chief Points of Interest in Upper Manhattan, 1920
[edit] External links
- http://www.ccny.cuny.edu/plazasite/plazahistory/history1.htm
- http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F40710F63C5F10738DDDAC0894DC405B838BF1D3
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