Carnegie Hall Studio Towers to be renovated.

Beginning this Summer, Carnegie Hall will implement a $14 million capital improvement program of its two studio towers in order to restore the 100-year-old infrastructure systems, upgrade public facilities, and enhance the architecture in interior public spaces.

The two towers, which stand 12 stories on the south side of the concert hall and 16 stories on the northeast, contain 144 rental studios built by Andrew Carnegie shortly after the opening of the concert hall in 1891. They were built to generate extra income needed to balance the deficit created by concert presentations at the Hall, and for over a century have housed a culturally significant body of artists and residents.

The City of New York and Carnegie Hall have formed a precedent-setting partnership to finance the Studio Towers Capital Infrastructure Project. Mayor Giuliani and the City Council, led by Speaker Peter Vallone, have agreed to provide $12 million toward the project with the expectation that Carnegie Hall will generate an equivalent total from private sources toward its Endowment, to secure the Hall's future financial position. It is intended that this unique arrangement will serve as a model for future public/private partnerships. Substantial funds have also been committed from the Office of Ruth Messinger, Manhattan Borough President.

The project will replace the following systems in the Studio Towers: electrical systems; mechanical systems, including plumbing and HVAC; windows; and upgrading of the public spaces (corridors, stairwells, bathrooms, and elevators). The project is scheduled to be completed in 1998 and will comply with applicable New York City construction code and the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

As a result of Carnegie Hall President Isaac Stern's effort to save the hall from destruction, a 1960 master lease between the City of New York and the newly formed Carnegie Hall Corporation mandated that artists have preference in the rental of all studios. Because of this lease, painters, musicians, dancers, photographers, actors, teachers, and a host of other arts-related professionals have a unique environment in which to live and create. Over the years tenants have included Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marion Brando, Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and Charles Dana Gibson. Today, the studios continue their creative activity with a variety of renowned and celebrated artists, making Carnegie Hall the longest-running cultural arts center under one roof in the United States.