Stewart-Cousins Nominates Tarrytown Music Hall For Registry

TARRYTOWN, NY — The Tarrytown Music Hall has been nominated for inclusion in the first New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry.

State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, D-Yonkers, made the nomination for the inaugural year of the registry.

She said the music hall is already on the National Register of Historic Places, so it deserves to be in the business preservation registry.

"There is something special about seeing a performance in a historical venue like the Music Hall," Stewart-Cousins said, in a news release. "Whether you are watching a classical pianist or a comedy act, you feel as if you've stepped back in time."

Tarrytown Music hall Executive Director Bjorn Olsson said the theater has been at the heart of the community for 137 years.

He expressed gratitude on behalf of the music hall team — past, present and future — to be the first nominated for the honor.

"Senator Stewart-Cousins has always understood the importance of the Music Hall for Westchester, both as a cultural institution and an economic engine," Olsson said.

The Tarrytown Music Hall is the oldest performing arts theater in the county and one of the region's finest examples of the Queen Anne style of architecture, according to a spokesperson.

It was built in 1885, the same year the Statue of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. It hosted vaudeville shows, piano recitals, horse shows and Saturday afternoon roller skating.

In 1901, it became one of the first theaters to show motion pictures.

Some of the big names in entertainment to have performed there include Irving Berlin, Mae West, Dave Brubeck, Louis Armstrong, Pete Seeger, B.B. King and Miles Davis.

The hall was used exclusively as a movie theater from 1930 to 1976. In 1980, it was purchased by a nonprofit, reestablished as a center for the performing arts and listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Historic Business Preservation Registry allows the state to honor businesses that are vital to their communities while providing educational and promotional assistance to aid with their continued success.