Peabody Institute

[3] Completion of the white marble Grecian-Italianate west wing, the original building housing the institute, designed by Edmund George Lind, was delayed by the Civil War.

[4] Under the direction of well-known musicians, composers, conductors, and Peabody alumni, the conservatory, concerts, lecture series, library and art gallery, along with the "Peabody Prizes" (an annual awarding of gold, silver and bronze medals with certificates and cash to top graduates of the city), attracted a considerable national attention to the Institute and the city's growing culture.

[citation needed] Under strong academic leadership, the Peabody evolved into an internationally renowned cultural and literary center through the late 19th and the 20th centuries, especially after a major expansion in 1877–1878, with the completion of its eastern half housing the George Peabody Library with five stacked tiers of wrought iron balconies holding book stacks(shelves), surmounted by a beveled glass skylight, one of the most beautiful and distinctive libraries in the U.S.[5][failed verification] The 1878 east wing on East Mount Vernon Place, containing the affiliated George Peabody Library, joined the other rows of townhouses, mansions, art gallery, clubs, hotels, and churches around the Washington Monument which developed into the Mount Vernon neighborhood on the former estate of Revolutionary War commander John Eager Howard.

[6]Its electronic music department, founded by composer Jean Eichelberger Ivey in 1967, was the first in any American conservatory, and remains the home of two historic Moog modular synthesizers from its first decade in operation.

[9] In the 1980 novel Jacob Have I Loved by Katherine Paterson, the character Caroline Bradshaw attends a summer program at Peabody in order to further her training as a singer.