I am so touched the owner allowed a tour and a violinist to bring music and life back into that gorgeous and immaculate concert hall! I really pray that someone will dedicate time to fixing that beautiful and such an incredible place.
I worked for the phone company for years, and one day had a repair call to a tenant in the building, and when I arrived to do the job, the buildings maintenance guy took me down to the basement to the main phone room, and there it was!! I had it all to myself.
I've known Steinert & Sons my whole 54 year life but only heard of it about 5 years ago! If I had the millions, I'd drop em on that to create a space to visit. No exits and access are always solvable with the right architect and buckets of money!
I have lived in Boston for 30 years and never knew about this hidden gem. As an adult we find out much much more cool information. Thanks for a glimpse at an awesome piece of history
They should restore it. How beautiful. There was an opera house in my little home town . When they finally redid it. They took out alot of the org. Plaster work. And beautiful trim and moldings. Painted alot of gloss white and beige. Awful and ugly. Couldnt bear too look at it. Left early. So sad.
It is beautiful with a wonderful history but sadly such things are of interest to the very few. Financially it is not a lucrative move to breathe new life into an old forgotten music hall, a sign of the times we're living in unfortunately.
Thats awesome. I have lived in boston for 30yrs and never knew that was there. I just recently started looking up random gems like this in my home city and Boston is full of them. Massachusetts in genereal
I grew up in Boston from 1936 until the 1980s, went to the Old Opera House, and spent years listening to the BSO, but never heard of this hall. Quite amazing!
@@eliotpearlman6481 This place looks like how the Old Opera House looked when I went to see Madama Butterfly, produced by the late Sarah Caldwell, in the 1990s. It was in a sorry state of disrepair and the opera was performed with firemen in the building. It was eventually closed but has since reopened after a major refurbishing.
I was a union carpenter and worked in Boston for decades. I have unearthed some of the craziest things you could have ever imagined. Tearing up a floor once I found an old staircase entrance to the old Boston underground rail/subway system. It was an old barbershop that was being renovated for retail use. But before that is was a small subway station.
I know! And when he said, "Not many people get to see what you're about to show me..." I thought, too bad the women at NBC can't say the same about Matt! [ba-da-BING!] Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week...
the Steinert family's house still exists. It is on the road that leads to Hospital Point light house in Beverly. Many years ago I worked for old Mrs Steinert on the grounds of her small estate. Most of the land has been sold off and now has a few very unremarkable houses on what was the tennis court.
So sad it cannot be restored for use. When my mother and aunt were girls (late 1820's) they went to concerts there. They said it had perfect acoustics . A number of years ago someone looked into restoring the place and it would be impossible to make it comply with contemporary fire laws and ADA laws.
Apparently some plans for its restoration have been made: www.wbur.org/artery/2015/05/24/bostons-hidden-theater-renovation (however, this is from 4.5 years ago, and no idea what has happened since then).
oh they all knew what was going on with creepy Matt , but their precious careers were more important... so lets sacrifice another young intern and keep our big paychecks ~ lol
We used to have a ton more than what we have now too. We bulldozed so many between the 50's and 70's for more modern buildings, many have which themselves been torn down. Look up the original Penn Station in New York City. Its destruction is considered one of the biggest architectural travesties in New York history.
Given what we know of Lauer and how much he pushed to get Savannah the top spot, I wonder if they had some transactional activity going on that Ann Curry wouldn't take part in with Matty, if ya know what I mean.
If the place was in London they had updated it and kept it a theater or bar. But because it's in the US without any arts funding it's going to continue fall to decay or be demolished. Shame.
I live in Pittsfield MA, about 130 miles west of Boston on the New York border. We have a theater here called the Colonial. Same story with our theater, it sat dormant for some 70 years. They basically shuddered the place and only used the lobby as a series of businesses. A few lucky people would get to tour the place occasionally, but most people who walked in the storefront never even knew that this ornate gem existed behind a sealed door in back. Beleave it or not, Hillary Clinton led an effort to restore places like this and was instrumental in securing funds for it's restoration. Today it is a world class performance space, really stunning to see how much effort went into the detail of those buildings. I can't believe they have not tried that on this theater in Boston.
@@ridethepace6005 Thank you for sharing. I looked it up and see that a guy and his son preserved it while it was used as a storage warehouse for many years. Then Hillary marked it as a historic site in the late '90s then they put 20 million in it to renovate it. It now looks like the Old Vic in London. Such a great story. I wish we as a nation did this more rather than demolition or let places sit to rot. If I ever became a high level billion/millonaire that'd be one of my goals.
@@jennyreyes1021 Jenny, that is absolutely beyond cool and awesome. If i had money like that, I'd have a nice mechanism as such but minus the woman-handling.
