Time Capsule From the Juilliard Archives

The Claremont Avenue Campus

In 1905, Frank Damrosch, the godson of Franz Liszt and head of music education for New York City public schools, founded the Institute of Musical Art, Juilliard’s predecessor institution, with financial support from James Loeb. Damrosch’s goal was to establish a conservatory that would rival those of Europe, where a classical music tradition had existed for centuries. The demand for training far exceeded expectations, prompting the Institute to relocate in 1910 from the Lenox Mansion at Fifth Avenue and 12th Street to more spacious facilities at 120 Claremont Avenue near Columbia University.

While the Institute was a tuition-charging, degree-granting school, Juilliard’s other predecessor institution, the Juilliard Graduate School, offered full fellowships to talented musicians, allowing them to study with prominent artist teachers without other curricular requirements. The nature of the Graduate School’s founding differed from the Institute. When wealthy textile merchant Augustus D. Juilliard died on April 25, 1919, his will made the largest single bequest of its kind—approximately $20 million—for the advancement of music. One year later, the funds were used to establish the Juilliard Musical Foundation for the development of music in the U.S. In 1924 the foundation’s trustees created the Juilliard Graduate School, housed in the old Vanderbilt guesthouse at 49 East 52nd Street.

In 1930, construction began on a new building for the Juilliard Graduate School. Arthur L. Harmon of the firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon— architects of the Empire State Building—designed a new seven-story Art Deco addition at 130 Claremont Avenue, adjacent to the Institute of Musical Art. Elsie Sloan Farley designed the interiors. (The Juilliard School of Music was created through a merger of the Institute of Musical Art and the Juilliard Graduate School in 1926. The two schools shared a common board of directors and president but retained their distinct identities until their complete merger as a single institution in 1946.)

The opening of the new building was celebrated in November 1931 with a series of inaugural performances including a recital by Sergei Rachmaninoff, an orchestra concert led by Leopold Stokowski, and the premiere of the opera Jack and the Beanstalk with music by Louis Gruenberg and libretto by John Erskine (president 1928-37).

Juilliard moved to its current home at Lincoln Center in 1969, and the Manhattan School of Music now resides in the Claremont Avenue building.

Jeni Dahmus Farah is director of the Juilliard Archives

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