Cincinnati Music Hall, Cincinnati, Besucherguide & was in der Nähe unternehmen

Cincinnati Music Hall is a red-brick Gothic concert hall at 1241 Elm Street in Cincinnati, Ohio, designed by Samuel Hannaford and opened in May 1878. It has long been the home of the city's classical music life and is one of the most recognisable buildings in Over-the-Rhine.

The story behind it

What looks like a single enormous building is really three: a central concert hall flanked by a North and a South Exposition Hall, linked by passageways at the upper level. The project exists largely because of the businessman Reuben Springer, who in 1875 offered a large sum of money on condition that the public raise a matching amount, and who gave more when fundraising fell short. The result was a hall built to serve both music and the city's big public exhibitions.

The ground has a darker past. The site once held Ohio's first asylum for the mentally ill and was later used as a burial ground for the poor, until the 1850s. Ghost stories have followed the hall ever since. The hall's chief executive acknowledged the so-called Music Hall ghosts in a 2005 documentary, and the late Cincinnati Pops conductor Erich Kunzel spoke of meeting friendly presences in the empty house at night. Not everyone agrees, and one longtime engineer blamed the odd noises on the building's famous acoustics.

What to look for

• Take in the tall pointed arches and the steep rooflines, which give the red brick its cathedral-like Gothic character.
• Look closely at the carved stonework on each of the three sections, where the decoration was chosen to suit what happens inside.
• Step back far enough on Elm Street to see how the central hall and the two flanking wings read as one long, symmetrical block.
• Walk past the arches after dark, when the lit facade makes the ghost stories easier to believe.

Tips for your visit

• Allow 20 to 30 minutes to walk around the outside and take photographs.
• Late afternoon and evening light is kind to the brick, and the building looks dramatic once it is lit.
• You can see the interior by attending a concert or a tour, so check current opening hours and event listings before you go.
• Washington Park is just across the street, and the Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood around it has plenty of cafes and restaurants for a break.

See it on a quest

Ghost Hunt in Cincinnati passes Music Hall as one stop on a longer walk through the area, a fitting match for a building with so many spooky tales. You reach it on foot, the app tells you about the place as you arrive, and you solve a puzzle on the spot. One ticket covers the whole group, and you can start whenever you like, with no guide and no schedule.