Vail-Leavitt Music Hall

The Vail-Leavitt Music Hall is a two-story Beaux-Arts theatre building in Riverhead containing a main performance space and ground floor commercial sections. Its most striking feature is the horseshoe-shaped balcony on the upper level that provides seating with sightlines to the stage.

Local lumber dealer David F. Vail built this theatre in 1881 as a performance venue for the community. Within decades the building served other purposes including hosting Thomas Edison's Kinetophone experiments in 1914.

The upper theatre space reflects 19th-century opera house design with detailed architectural elements and traditional performance layout. Visitors can experience the classic arrangement of orchestra seating and balcony tiers used for theatrical productions of that era.

The building operates today as a community performance venue hosting regular theatre shows and cultural events. Visitors should check ahead about programming since events are scheduled at different times throughout the year.

The building evolved its own lighting system progressing from candles through an on-site gas plant to electricity in 1888. This gradual upgrade shows how quickly technology changed during that era and how adaptive the theatre was to new innovations.

Location: Riverhead

Inception: 1881

Architectural style: Beaux-Arts

Address: 18 Peconic Avenue, Riverhead, NY 11901

Website: http://vail-leavitt.org

GPS coordinates: 40.91639,-72.66250

Latest update: December 14, 2025 12:21