A Municipal Music Hall, plan, elevation, and section
Designed by George A. Downs American
Competition sponsored by the National Institute for Architectural Education American
Not on view
This drawing is part of a group of drawings donated to the Museum by the National Institute for Architectural Education (now the Van Alen Institute). The institute was founded in 1894 as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects by a group of alumni from the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris to promote and advance architectural practice in the United States of America. Alongside a series of courses, the Society initiated various competitions and awards, of which the so-called Paris Prize, first awarded in 1904, was the most prestigious. The winner of the annual competition was given the opportunity to study at the École in Paris for a year. With the exception of the war years, from 1915 to 1918 and 1941 to 1946, the prize was awarded annually up until 1995. The Met collection holdings contain 78 prize-winning designs for public buildings, monuments and urban planning by 24 architects from the period between 1907 and 1947.