The building, on the site of the Latting Tower, a popular observatory during the 19th century, was designed by the architects Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore and completed in 1912.

Aeolian Hall also featured concerts by leading musical figures such as William Grant Still, Ottorino Respighi, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Beniamino Riccio, Josef Hofmann, Sergei Prokofiev, Ferruccio Busoni, Guiomar Novaes, Rebecca Clarke, May Mukle, Ignacy Jan Paderewski and Vladimir Rosing, as well as Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra.

The concert is remembered, however, for the penultimate piece, the world premiere of George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue with the composer at the piano, orchestrated by Whiteman's arranger Ferde Grofe.

[10] The building continued to host concerts by the International Composers' Guild up to January 1926, at least, when the appearance of African American Broadway performer Florence Mills, singing jazz-based pieces by William Grant Still, caused a minor sensation.

Nadezhda Plevitskaya reportedly delighted the Aeolian Hall audience with her Russian folk songs in April 1926.