Greek-American couple Michael and Alice Halkias bought the hall in 1981 and renovated it, gaining some local celebrity for their cheaply produced television commercials.

Local activists organized to save the building, but the effort was unsuccessful and Grand Prospect Hall was demolished in February 2022.

Grand Prospect Hall was four stories tall and faced in buff-gray brick, with pressed metal decoration that was originally colored to resemble limestone.

The front portion of the building was arranged around a large central staircase and was designed with a bar, a banquet hall, and various reception and parlor rooms.

[7] The structure contained six bowling alleys, four shooting galleries, a billiard parlor, dining room, and large ballroom.

[10][11] In its inaugural years, the hall hosted a range of events including plays,[12] boxing tournaments,[10] Knights of Columbus meetings,[13] and fundraisers.

[7] The bowling alleys on the ground and second floors formed natural flues for the flames and the fire spread very quickly, further aided by wind.

[13] While it had steel ceilings and iron girders, the walls were made of Georgia pine, and the stage and flooring of the hall contained flammable material.

[17][18] John Kolle quickly decided to rebuild Prospect Hall on the same site and, in June 1901, opened a temporary beer garden next door.

[19] The New York City Buildings Department initially refused to grant a permit for the reconstruction because the blueprints included a drinking bar.

Firefighters had difficulty getting a sufficient stream of water due to a large eel which made its way into a fire hose, clogging it.

[26][27] In its early years, according to the New York Times' Christopher Gray, spaces like Prospect Hall "sounded the heartbeat of the city" by hosting a variety of public and private events.

[16] Many international celebrities held performances there, like opera star Enrico Caruso, Lena Horne, Ginger Rogers, Fred Astaire, and others.

[33] Old advertisements for Prospect Hall described the "high-class motion pictures and vaudeville" that were displayed every night, as well as "country butcher shops" on Tuesdays and "safe and sane" Independence Day events every July 4.

[32] It continued to be used for events such as an October 1929 debate between mayor Jimmy Walker and ex-governor Al Smith,[34] as well as Works Progress Administration productions during the 1930s.

He recovered the original murals after a chance encounter while waiting in line at a bank in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, when a stranger mentioned that he had purchased them.

[16] In 1983, Borough President Howard Golden proclaimed March 10 to be an annual "Grand Prospect Hall Day" in Brooklyn.

[45] The ads contained various shots of the interior spaces, showing events held there, set to orchestral music, with a sales pitch from the Halkiases typically including a phrase which became associated with them: "We make your dreams come true!

The Halkiases distributed flyers to convince people it was out of necessity, to continue focusing on nicer events rather than open up their venue to cheap, high-volume functions.

[53][46] It has also hosted events such as Flame Con, an LGBTQ comic book convention,[46] and the rock band Arcade Fire held an Everything Now album release concert there for 1,500 fans.

[46][56] The interior was largely auctioned off before the sale was announced, with some of the decorations and fixtures sold to other local businesses and antiques sellers.

[33] On August 19, 2021, the Brooklyn Paper reported that Rigas, through Gowanus Cubes LLC, had filed permits to demolish the properties, including Grand Prospect Hall.

[47][57] Local activists began a petition to try to save the building from demolition and asked the LPC to hold hearings for landmark status.

[46] The petition gained 40,000 supporters, including city councilman Brad Lander, who described it as "a site of many memories and melodies for generations of Brooklynites".

[59] However, the LPC refused to hold a hearing to consider the building for landmark status, since the exterior had been too extensively modified from its original design.

[58][60] Among the LPC's reasons for denying the request were that the fourth-floor pediment had been removed, the frieze above ground level had been modified, and the entrance portico had been enclosed.

[65] The building was four stories tall and faced in buff-gray brick, with pressed metal decoration that was originally colored to resemble limestone.

[66] Grand Prospect Hall featured the first Otis bird cage elevator in New York and was the first fully electrified public building in Brooklyn.

[68][69] The central staircase, made of cast iron with marble treads, connected the entrance foyer with a two-story-high hallway on an upper level.

The balcony consisted of a set of theater boxes that are sloped slightly downward to the front of Grand Prospect Hall.