{"nrhp_refnum":"80002724","name":"Town Hall","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"113--123 W. 43rd St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.75609803350005,"lon":-73.98438198266354,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1980-04-23","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2012-03-02","areas_of_significance":["Education","Politics/Government","Architecture","Social History","Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["national","local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Town Hall is a four-story neo-Federal brick and limestone meeting hall and auditorium at 113-123 West 43rd Street in Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1919-21 and designed by McKim, Mead & White.","why_significant":"The building was erected for the League for Political Education as a forum for educating the public on political issues, an outgrowth of early 20th-century efforts to win women's suffrage. It gained national importance through the radio program \"America's Town Meeting of the Air\" and became a favored New York concert hall and debut venue because of its acoustics and intimacy.","narrative":"Town Hall is a four-story auditorium building on West 43rd Street in Manhattan, built in 1919-21 for the League for Political Education. McKim, Mead & White designed it in a neo-Federal manner, with Flemish bond brick, limestone trim, a seven-bay blind arcade and an Adamesque frieze. Inside, a columnar screen separates the lobby from a semicircular auditorium with a cantilevered balcony, gilded pilasters and carved organ grilles. The League grew from the defeat of the 1894 women's suffrage amendment in New York, and it wanted a permanent home for lectures and public debate. The hall hosted speakers of international fame and, from 1935, broadcast \"America's Town Meeting of the Air\" for 21 years. Its acoustics and intimate scale also made it a preferred stage for soloists, jazz musicians and chamber groups, and a \"Town Hall debut\" became a familiar phrase in American musical life.","period_of_significance":"1919-21","architect_builder":"McKim, Mead & White","architectural_style":"Neo-Federal","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed condition is good; the form marks it as occupied and in educational and entertainment use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.226285-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/80002724.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002724/b1bdb44dd1-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/80002724/b1bdb44dd1-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"Jim.henderson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_123_W43_near_sun_jeh.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim.henderson</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Town_Hall_123_W43_near_sun_jeh.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319989","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Town_Hall_(New_York_City)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1634948"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/town-hall-80002724/"}