Brooklyn Academy of Music, Montague Street, ca.1895, v1972.1.781; Photography Collection; Brooklyn Historical Society.
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) was originally located at 176-194 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, as seen in this nineteenth-century photograph. The building, originally intended to be the home for the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn, was designed by Leopold Eidlitz, and contained a 2,200-seat theater as well as a smaller concert hall. Its opening performance was held on January 16, 1861, and the hall hosted a variety of notable performers.
On November 30, 1903, the Montague Street building seen in this photograph was destroyed in a fire. In 1906 BAM relocated to its present-day location at 30 Lafayette Avenue, in Fort Greene.