Webster Hall in N.Y. declared a landmark

NEW YORK, March 19 (UPI) -- New York's Landmarks Preservation Commission has given landmark status to the famed Manhattan dance club Webster Hall.

Madonna, Tina Turner and Prince have all performed at the club, while Elvis Presley recorded at studios in the building, the New York Daily News said Wednesday.

Completed in 1886, the building served as a speakeasy during the Prohibition era in the 1920s and '30s.

"We are very pleased with this decision," Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, told the newspaper. "It is especially important for this building because all around it older buildings are being torn down to be replaced by 20- or 30-story dormitories or hotels."