By Patrick Burns, Intelligencer Journal Staff

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - Pennsylvania Academy of Music broke ground Thursday on a $21 million building that will anchor Lancaster's burgeoning arts corridor. To mark the historic occasion it will be the last building designed by the late architect Philip Johnson -- a string quartet was hoisted aloft on a scissors lift to symbolize the building that soon will rise at 42 North Prince Street.

Only steps from the historic Fulton Opera House, the four-story glass-and-granite building will boast a 367-seat recital hall with a grand foyer meant to be a focal point of the Lancaster Arts Corridor. The building's distinctive touches include a 65-foot-by-65-foot rooftop terrace that can be used for outdoor performances.

Michael Jamanis, academy president and co-founder of the academy with his wife, Frances Veri, said the building will represent a significant achievement for Lancaster.

"We've spent 15 years talking about this, and today I'm speechless," said Jamanis. "I think we're making history today."

The new building can provide the city with an economic driver while serving as the linchpin to the arts corridor, Mayor Rick Gray said.

"Lancaster is the capital of arts in central Pennsylvania," he said. "It is up to us to really realize our potential."

About 150 people attended the groundbreaking ceremony in the parking lot next to the former AAA building. Scheduled to open in two years, the project was designed by Johnson and Alan Ritchie, architects of the postmodern AT&T building in New York City. A spokeswoman for Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects said Thursday the academy is the last Johnson-designed project to be built. Johnson died in January 2005.

The state provided $7.5 million and the county $1 million toward the project's expected $21 million construction cost. Private donations covered the rest.

Some preliminary work already has begun, and the former AAA building at 34 N. Prince St. will be razed before construction begins.The project will force the closure of Water Street for a few weeks in June. The west lane of North Prince Street also will close for a week, according to Stephen C. Lee of Benchmark Construction Co.

Cyril Harris, whose work includes New York's Metropolitan Opera, designed the acoustics in the recital hall. The complex will feature 13 private studios, recording facilities, classrooms, a computer lab, an expanded library with a listening room and public spaces for conferences and community functions. The project will increase the school's size from 11,000 square feet to 63,000 square feet and will accommodate up to 600 students.

The school has expanded from 50 students when it opened in 1990 to 400 students today from central Pennsylvania and around the world. Alumni have gone on to schools including Juilliard, Oberlin Conservatory and Eastman School of Music.

Johnson's work ranged from modern, "glass-box" buildings to more whimsical works, such as the pink granite "lipstick building" in New York City.

The academy's new building will have a glass facade framed with stone colonnades that evoke the row-house-style buildings around it.

In April, the school moved to a temporary home in Liberty Place, the former Armstrong World Industries headquarters building on Liberty Street.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.