Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts
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Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, and the permanent home of the Houston Symphony Orchestra
Houston Symphony Orchestra
The Houston Symphony is an American orchestra based in Houston, Texas. Since 1966, it has performed at the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in downtown Houston....
and the Houston Society for the Performing Arts.
Jones Hall is also frequently rented as a venue for contemporary pop musicians and other performers and is estimated to draw over 400,000 audience members yearly.
History
Officially completed on October 2, 1966 at the cost of $7.4 million, it is named after Jesse H. Jones, a former United States Secretary of CommerceUnited States Secretary of Commerce
The United States Secretary of Commerce is the head of the United States Department of Commerce concerned with business and industry; the Department states its mission to be "to foster, promote, and develop the foreign and domestic commerce"...
and Houstonian. (For the Hall's opening concert a special work was commissioned of the American composer Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness was an Armenian-American composer.His music is accessible to the lay listener and often evokes a mood of mystery or contemplation...
, the appropriately titled 'Ode to the Temple of Sound'). Construction of the hall was underwritten by Houston Endowment, Inc., a foundation endowed by Jones and his wife. Upon completion, the hall was donated to the city, and is currently operated by the City of Houston's Convention and Entertainment Facilities Department.
Designed by the Houston-based architectural firm Caudill Rowlett Scott
Caudill Rowlett Scott
Caudill Rowlett Scott was an architecture firm in Houston, Texas.In 2005, it was named "Firm of the Century" by Texas A&M University College of Architecture ....
, the hall, which takes up an entire city block, features a white Italian marble exterior with eight-story tall columns. The interior includes a basement and a sub-basement which houses a rehearsal room. The lobby is dominated by a 60 feet (18.3 m) high ceiling featuring a massive hanging bronze sculpture by Richard Lippold
Richard Lippold
Richard Lippold was an American sculptor, known for his geometric constructions using wire as a medium....
entitled "Gemini II". The inside of the concert hall itself is unique in that the ceiling is made of 800 hexagonal segments which can be raised or lowered to change the acoustics of the hall. The segments can actually be lowered enough to close the upper balcony, so the seating capacity therefore fluctuates from about 2,300 with the balcony covered to 2,908 with the balcony open. The building won the 1967 American Institute of Architects
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to support the architecture profession and improve its public image...
' Honor Award, which is bestowed on only one building annually.
The acoustics were designed by the firm Bolt, Beranek and Newman, who also designed New York's Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall
Avery Fisher Hall is a concert hall, in New York City and is part of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. It is the home of the New York Philharmonic, with a capacity of 2,738 seats.-History:...
and San Francisco's Davies Hall, both of which have also been subject to much criticism. However, the only renovations since the hall's construction have been unrelated. In 1993, it was renovated to bring it in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. From 2001-2003, a $24 million renovation took place to reaffix marble panels which had begun to fall from the building's exterior façade, to renovate parts of the building that had been flooded during 2001's Tropical Storm Allison
Tropical Storm Allison
Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. The first storm of the season, Allison lasted an unusually long period of time for a June storm, remaining tropical or subtropical for 15 days...
, and to remove asbestos from the interior.