Underground Boston Theater May Come Alive Again

[unhappycamper]

http://artery.wbur.org/2015/05/24/bostons-hidden-theater-renovation



View from the balcony of Steinert Hall across the piano parts, and record boxes to the stage.

Underground Boston Theater May Come Alive Again
Amy Gorel
May 24, 2015

BOSTON After 72 years hidden from the public, Boston’s underground theater may have a chance to open its doors once again.

Steinert Hall — a performance hall 40 feet below street level and located across from Boston Common — has been a topic of intrigue for city dwellers since it was closed in 1942 due to stricter safety codes after the Cocoanut Grove fire.

The theater sits in the depths of the six-story Steinert Building at 162 Boylston St., which is home to piano sellers M. Steinert & Sons. Recently, B Minor, LLC — could they have picked a better name? — purchased the building with plans to renovate.



~snip~

The performance hall was built below ground to shield it from the noise of the street. As a basement theater, it’s below the water table, meaning it’s damp and usually around 60 degrees — posing a number of architectural issues. Today, piles of record boxes and piano parts fill the theater. Paint peels from the walls and plaster falls from the high ceilings.



Paul Murphy, president of M. Steinert & Sons, surveys the peeling paint and crumbling plaster at the entrance to the main staircase of the hall.

[Historic NY]

1. Interesting looks like it was heavily sprinkled.......

at some point. Coconut Grove wasn't sprinkled at the time, since it was considered only a restaurant. I imagine its probably more egress issues. I studied the fire and interviewed some of the first responders, 30+ years ago. Hope they work out a plan.

[unhappycamper]

2. More on Steinert Hall:

http://www.messynessychic.com/2014/04/22/the-secret-symphinic-stage-forgotten-35-feet-below-a-local-piano-shop/

22nd Apr, 2014

The Secret Symphonic Stage Forgotten 40 feet below a Local Piano Shop
By MessyNessy
22nd Apr, 2014

~snip~



The “acoustically perfect” theatre was built by Alexander Steinert, son of Morris Steinert, a German immigrant who arrived in Boston in the mid 1800s along with his dream of opening an American piano store. Alexander commissioned the 650 seater concert hall for musicians to benefit from a unique acoustic environment, buried deep enough to entirely silence the noise of the busy Boston streets.



World-renowned pianists and opera singers alike performed on this stage but Steinert Hall hasn’t hosted an audience or heard the echoes of musicians’ instruments since 1942, the same year an unforgettable tragedy struck Boston’s entertainment scene and shocked the nation.

It was the year 492 people would die in the deadliest nightclub fire in history at the Cocoanut Grove. Following the horrifying incident, building codes would never be the same again. Subterranean spaces in particular, became subject to strict fire regulations. With a capacity for 650 people and a serious lack of fire exits 40 feet below ground, Steinhert had no chance of surviving the new wave of laws that saw many establishments heavily fined and ultimately shut down. The costly upgrades were simply out of budget and the sounds of Steinhert Hall were silenced under lock and key.



While the piano shop at ground-level continued to specialise in Steinways and become a well-known and trusted name in the Boston music community, the once treasured theatre was quickly forgotten by the cultural elite that had frequented its underground auditorium. As decades passed, it became a mysterious urban legend, unseen even by the majority of the staff themselves at M. S Steinert & Sons. Some in-the-know Bostonians heard the whispers of a secret subterranean theatre, but few believed it was really there.