Old Metropolitan Opera House

JC Cady won the design competition with a scheme that was functional, featured fireproof materials, and low construction costs. It also incorporated the newest engineering technologies, including electric lights, elevators, an iron cage for structural support, a sprinkler system for fire suppression, and a simple air conditioning system.When completed, it seated 3,700 people and was the largest opera house in the world. Its four-story façade had matching seven-story towers with commercial establishments on the ground level, restaurants and ballrooms above, and apartments for bachelors in the upper levels.  Very shortly after its construction, the Opera House became the see and be seen place for New Yorkers.  Over the course of its life, there were several fires and some redecoration.  The Metropolitan Opera Association flirted with demolition in 1938 but a concerted fundraising effort by the public saved the structure. The building was not so lucky thirty years later when the Landmarks Commission despite heroic efforts by the Citizen's Committee for the Preservation of Metropolitan Opera with champions of Governor Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay, voted not to designate it.