At the beginning of the 20th century there were not too many locations in Zagreb where its music scene could have been presented – merely the podium at the Croatian Music Institute built in 1876. The large hall of the Zagreb Fair in Martićeva Street was used for big classical performances and, after its relocation, the new hall at Savska Street. Immediately before the Second World War, in 1937, the capacity was slightly increased with the hall in the Labour Centre and, after the war, the adaptation of an old cinema theatre to the concert studio Istra. Under these circumstances Zagreb music scene was constantly at risk. The construction of a new modern concert hall by the end of the 1950s became the condition of its survival.