Short answers, pulled from the story.
Carnegie Hall opened on the 5th of May 1891 with a concert conducted by both Walter Damrosch and Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The program began with a rendition of the Old 100th hymn and a speech by Episcopal bishop Henry C. Potter.
Carnegie Hall was designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill, along with Richard Morris Hunt and Dankmar Adler of Adler and Sullivan, in a modified Italian Renaissance style. Construction took place between 1889 and 1891 at a cost of $1.25 million.
Carnegie Hall has three performance spaces with a combined capacity of roughly 3,657 seats. The main Stern Auditorium holds 2,790 seats, Zankel Hall seats 599, and the Weill Recital Hall has 268 seats.
Violinist Isaac Stern led the campaign to save Carnegie Hall in the late 1950s and early 1960s, enlisting Jacob M. and Alice Kaplan and J. M. Kaplan Fund administrator Raymond S. Rubinow. Their efforts prompted New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. to form a taskforce, and in 1960 the city purchased the building for $5 million. The main auditorium was renamed after Stern in 1997 to recognize his role.
The first world premiere at Carnegie Hall was Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, opus 95, "From the New World," performed on the 16th of December 1893.
The Beatles performed two shows at Carnegie Hall on the 12th of February 1964, during their first trip to the United States. Promoter Sid Bernstein persuaded Carnegie officials that the concert would further international understanding between the United States and Great Britain.