Browse Descriptions for: Academy of Music - Philadelphia

Order By:

Mac

Rating: 5 | Votes: 1 | Date: 03/07/2026 00:33:00

The Grand Old Lady of Locust Street is America's oldest working opera house. The Academy of Music at 240 South Broad Street, on Philadelphia's Avenue of the Arts, was built 1855-1857 by architects Napoleon LeBrun and Gustavus Runge, modelled on Milan's La Scala, and opened with a gala ball on 26 January 1857 followed a month later by Verdi's Il trovatore. No American opera house has served its original purpose longer, and the 1962 National Historic Landmark designation merely formalised what the...