Old Metropolitan Opera House
New York's original Metropolitan Opera House survived fire and repeated alteration, then was demolished after the company moved to Lincoln Center.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
The Metropolitan Opera's first permanent home on Broadway at 39th Street.
The auditorium opened in 1883 and was rebuilt after an 1892 fire. For generations it hosted leading singers, premieres and a socially charged ring of private boxes.
Existence timeline
The Metropolitan Opera begins public performances in its first permanent home.
A major fire damages the building and the auditorium is reconstructed.
The familiar gold auditorium takes shape through major remodelling.
The Met opens its new Lincoln Center house.
The original Broadway building is removed.
Why it ended
The Metropolitan Opera moved to Lincoln Center in 1966. Preservation proposals failed and the old building was demolished the following year.
Last confirmed trace
Recordings, programmes, photographs, architectural fragments and the institution's archives preserve its performance history.
What it left behind
The move separated a living opera company from the building that had shaped its first eight decades.
How we classified it
The archive unit reached normal public release or operation and is no longer obtainable in its original public form.
Verified normal public availability maps to 100 under Arrival Score V1.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.