Troy Savings Bank and Music Hall

About this property

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, is a performance space in Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, United States. The music hall, renowned for its acoustics and an Odell concert organ, is operated by a not-for-profit organization. Completed in 1875, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989 for its architecture as one of the finest surviving 19th-century auditoriums. The Troy Savings Bank was founded in 1823 and moved to its current location in 1870. In appreciation of the community's support, the plans for the new building called for a music hall to be built on the upper floors. In the early years of the 20th century the Music Hall featured performances from artists such as Lillian Nordica, Henri Vieuxtemps, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Albert Spalding, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Myra Hess and Jose Iturbi. In the 1930s and 1940s, artists including Vladimir Horowitz, Yehudi Menuhin and Artur Rubinstein played there. It was a usual stop for a musician on a tour around America. Apparently not up to modern building codes, there was long a tradition that prior to each performance the Fire Marshal would come out on stage and announce "There is absolutely no smoking in the Hall. If you have to smoke, you can hit the streets at half time." Following World War II, Troy's wealth declined and so did the bank's. Many public initiatives were begun to save the bank (and thus the music hall) from closure. Ideas included establishing an industrial and folk art museum downstairs and renting the Hall itself to the area's many colleges. In 1979, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Revitalization Committee was founded by private citizens. With the bank's support and additional funding from the city and county for its administration, the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall Corporation was founded. A not-for-profit organization which still leases the Hall from the bank, the corporation began its ownership with a performance by the Benny Goodman Band in 1980. A corporate re-structuring and buyout followed, and, in 1999, the Troy Savings Bank converted to a public corporation. On January 16, 2004, First Niagara Financial Group, Inc. acquired Troy Financial Corporation, the holding company for the Troy Savings Bank, and Troy Commercial Bank. In the fall of 2016, First Niagara merged with Key Bank. It is a contributing property to the Central Troy Historic District. George B. Post's design was selected by default: due to his pioneer work in crafting metal to simulate stone in a building's superstructure, it was the only estimate to fall within the board's projected budget. A graduate of New York University, Post studied under Richard Morris Hunt in the mid 1800s and soon became a respected architect in New York City. His preference for the Beaux Arts and French Renaissance styles can be seen in the building's highly detailed decorations. Construction began on the bank's new property on the corner of State and Second Streets in July 1871.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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