3. The Artist Studios Were Originally Elaborate and Exclusive

The artist studios built by Henry Hardenbergh in the second expansion of Carnegie Hall were built in an more elaborate style, with a more exclusive feeling. It was only later that the studios developed their bohemian reputation. One fun fact is that Leonard Bernstein, who lived in the studios, wrote West Side Story about the gangs in the San Juan Hill neighborhood (now Lincoln Center), which he could see from Carnegie Hall.

Today, a visit to the Carnegie Hall archives, which is built into one of these studios, shows many of the original details of the more elaborate studios, some which included a fireplace and staircases between levels with banisters:

Original seats of Carnegie Hall, now in the archive

Metal radiators in what is now the dining room of the Resnick Education Wing