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Salaam Temple
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| Location: | 1020 Broad St., Newark, New Jersey |
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| Area: | 0.1 acres (0.040 ha) |
| Built: | 1925 |
| Architect: | Grad Associates |
| Architectural style: | Classical Revival |
| Governing body: | Local |
| NRHP Reference#: | 77000867[1] |
| NJRHP #: | [2] |
| Added to NRHP: | October 05, 1977 |
Newark Symphony Hall at 1020 Broad Street in Newark, New Jersey was built in 1925 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977. It was known for many years as The Mosque Theater.
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Originally built by the Shriners at a cost of more than $2 million as Salaam Temple and coloquially known as The Mosque, the four-storey building has been Newark Symphony Hall since 1964.[3] The interior features a Greek and Egyptian motifs, marble columns, a crystal chandelier, gold-leaf fret work and two-columned side promenades. The neo-classical building was design by Frank Grad,[4] a prominent Newark architect, whose work includes the Lefcourt Newark Building and many others downtown.
The 3,500-seat main concert hall is named for Sarah Vaughan, a native Newarker, and is renowned for its acoustics.[5] Newark Stage is a 200 seat black box theater used off-Broadway productions. The Terrace Ballroom is used for receptions. The Studio is a rehearsal space. The Dance Studio is home to one of three facilities in the state used by the school of the Garden State Ballet, founded in 1951.[6]
During it early years the theater received the patronage of Mrs. Parker O. Griffith, with a foundation supported by the Griffith Piano Company. [7] The company also built the Griffith Building, used as a showroom, workshop, office tower and recital auditorium.[8][9] In the early 1920s, the company formed a partnership with Earl Beach, the Griffith Beach Organ Company. Beach had worked with Robert Hope-Jones at his factory in Elmira, New York. The organ in Symphony Hall is one of ten theatre organs installed in northeastern New Jersey between 1921 and 1925. The Harmonic Tuba has H.J. (Hope-Jones) stamped on it.
New Jersey's first television station, WATV Channel 13, debuted on May 15, 1948 from studios at 1020 Broad Street. The commercial station was owned by Atlantic Television, a subsidiary of Bremer Broadcasting Corporation. Bremer also owned two northern New Jersey radio stations, WAAT (970 AM, now WNYM) and WAAT-FM (94.7 MHz., now WFME) whose studios were also in the theatre. Today Channel 13 is non-commercial WNET.
In 1964, the floundering Mosque Theater was on the verge on bankruptcy and there was a threat of it being torn down. Sol Hurok, an impressario who had presented many of his artists there commented, "This would be a terrible misfortune for music. It is one of the great concert halls of the country, with marvelous acoustics and great sight lines. It must be preserved." It was purchased by the city for $340,000, becoming a non-profit organization, and re-named Symphony Hall.[3] [10] [11]
Among the opera companies and stars who have appeared at Symphony Hall are the Metropolitan Opera[12]Jerome Hines, Beverly Sills, Roberta Peters, Leontyne Price, and Robert Merrill (who made his debut there).
Victor Borge, Judy Garland,[13] Patti LaBelle, Teddy Pendergrass, Richard Pryor, James Cleveland, Count Basie, Kirk Franklin, Queen Latifah, Gladys Knight, The Temptations, Tony Bennet and many, many more artists have also performed.[14][15][16]
Prior to the opening of the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Symphony Hall was one of the principal performance venues in the state, one of the homes of the New Jersey Symphony, the Newark Boys Choir, and the New Jersey State Opera.[17] The Newark Dance Theater,[18] African Globe Theater Works, and the New Jersey Ballet also showed work at the Hall. While much activity has shifted to NJPAC, Symphony Hall's continues to present theater, music and dance.[19][20] Community organizations have been conducting their annual programs at Newark Symphony Hall for twenty-five years and more, and continue to do so.
The area just south of Downtown Newark near Lincoln Park is known as The Coast. Newark, and the Coast in particular, in the past has been a large producer of gospel music and continues to produce well-known black artists. In 2007 announcement was made for the development Museum of African American Music, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate. The museum would be a collection of archives of "jazz, blues, spirituals, hip-hop, rock 'n'roll, gospel, house music, and rhythm and blues".[14] In 2010, it was announced that campaign to restore the theater was under way.[21][22] In 2010 the venue for the first time hosted events of the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.[23][24]
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