oscar wilde's 1882 lecture tour of america

date

Monday, January 9th, 1882

venue

Chickering Hall

subject

The English Renaissance

historical note

Chickering Hall
130 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY

Built: George B. Post, 1875
Demolished: 1901

Contrary to the location given by some sources, the building stood at the northwest corner of Fifth Avenue and West Eighteenth Street, with its entrance on Fifth Avenue.

New York 1880: Architecture and Urbanism in the Gilded Age, Stern, Mellins, Fishman. New York, NY: Monacelli Press, 1999.

Related

Interior of the hall.

Chickering and Sons (Wikipedia)

city

New York, NY

verification

Newspaper report

The New York Times Jan 10, 1882 p.5 col. 2.

Oscar Wilde, the young English [sic] versifier and aesthete lectured last evening before an audience that filled every seat in Chickering Hall.

.."I have the honor", said the Colonel [Morse] in a clear voice that was heard all over the hall, "to introduce to you Oscar Wilde the English poet, who will deliver his lecture upon the 'English Renaissance.'"

Full report: New York Times.

verification

Printed announcement (envelope)

Mr. R. D'Oyly Carte has the honour to announce that Oscar Wilde will deliver an address at Chickering Hall on the evening of January 9th a 8 o'clock.

Source: Mark Samuels Lasner Collection,
on loan to the University of Delaware Library.

verification (time)

Newspaper report

The True Witness & Catholic Chronicle, Jan 18, 1882, 7.