A public space in front of 1411 Broadway at West 39th commemorates Golda Meir (1898-1978), the prime minister of Israel from 1971-1974. The prime minister was born in Kiev (now spelled Kyiv), Ukraine, Russia, and moved with her family to Milwaukee in 1906. In 1921 she moved with her husband to British-occupied Palestine and began work for Palestine’s labor movement. She became an ambassador and later foreign minister of the new State of Israel beginning in 1948, and Premier from 1971-74, guiding Israel through the Yom Kippur War in 1973. She resigned in 1974 and was succeeded by Yitzhak Rabin.
A bust of Golda Meir was sculpted by Beatrice Goldfine and installed in the plaza in 1980.
1411 Broadway is also the former location of the first Metropolitan Opera House, which opened here in 1883, a Beaux Arts classic designed by J. Cleaveland Cady, with a performance of Faust. It was gutted by a fire in 1892, rebuilt to closely match its original appearance, but then rebuilt again in 1903. However, by the 1950s it was clear that its acoustics were insufficient for large-scale opera performance, and the Met moved to the new Lincoln Center in the early 60s. The old Met was razed in 1967, with the present office building appearing in 1970.
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11/2/23
6 comments
I don’t remember this place having plants the last time I was there, which was probably about 20 years ago, so my guess is that it was renovated recently.
I guess theres a plaque or something on there telling who it is or maybe its
on the street signs
The opening of the Met Opera at that site is a plot element of the TV series The Gilded Age– those society swells who couldn’t get a box at the Academy of Music for its opera season built their own opera house instead. It proved to be successful– the AoM turned to other sorts of entertainment once the Met opened.
I saw earlier images with the statue on a pedestal. Then found this updated information about it:
Till the beginning of the 21st century, the statue was standing on a six and a half feet granite pedestal, but for an unknown reason, the pedestal was removed. Since then, the statue is situated among low-lying greenery at the far corner of the square without any plaque or name.
There is still a Golda Meir Square street sign (I think)
Did anyone else besides me see the film Golda when it came out?