![]() The groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 7, 1993. The building’s base is approximately 150,000 square feet. ![]() The museum tower was initially planned to stand 200 ft (61 m) high, but had to be cut down to 162 ft (49 m) due to its proximity to Burke Lakefront Airport. Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. Ultimately, the chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium.Īt one point in the planning phase, when a financing gap existed, planners proposed locating the Rock Hall in the then-vacant May Company Building, but finally decided to commission architect I. As The Plain Dealer music critic Michael Norman noted, “It was $65 million… Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money.” Co-founder Jann Wenner later said, “One of the small sad things is we didn’t do it in New York in the first place,” but then added, “I am absolutely delighted that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is in Cleveland.”ĭuring early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, the Foundation’s board considered the Cuyahoga River. “The hall of fame should’ve been in Memphis, certainly,” wrote Peter Guralnick, author of an acclaimed two-volume Elvis Presley biography.Ĭleveland may also have been chosen as the organization’s site because the city offered the best financial package. Sam Phillips of Sun Studios fame and many others were stunned and disappointed that it ended up in Cleveland. On May 5, 1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. A petition drive was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis, and Cleveland ranked first in a 1986 USA Today poll asking where the Hall of Fame should be located. Cleveland was also one of the premier tour stops for most rock bands.Ĭivic leaders in Cleveland pledged $65 million in public money to fund the construction. tour in the city, Bruce Springsteen, Roxy Music, and Rush among many others. during the 1970s and 1980s, including David Bowie, who began his first U.S. In addition, Cleveland cited radio station WMMS, which played a key role in breaking several major acts in the U.S. ![]() The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia (home of Bill Haley and American Bandstand), Memphis (home of Sun Studios and Stax Records), Detroit (home of Motown Records), Cincinnati (home of King Records), New York City, and Cleveland.Ĭleveland lobbied for the museum, citing that WJW disc jockey Alan Freed both coined the term “rock and roll” and heavily promoted the new genre-and that Cleveland was the location of Freed’s Moondog Coronation Ball, the first major rock and roll concert. The Foundation began inducting artists in 1986, but the Hall of Fame still had no home. Wenner, attorney Allen Grubman, and record executives Seymour Stein, Bob Krasnow, and Noreen Woods. In 1986, Cleveland was chosen as the Hall of Fame’s permanent home.įounder Ahmet Ertegun assembled a team that included attorney Suzan Evans, Rolling Stone magazine editor and publisher Jann S. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation was established on April 20, 1983, by Atlantic Records founder and chairman Ahmet Ertegun. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, recognizes and archives the history of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers, and other notable figures who have had some major influence on the development of rock and roll.
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