Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is located in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul, Minnesota

Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...

 and hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers. It serves as a home to several local arts organizations, including the Minnesota Opera

Minnesota Opera

The Minnesota Opera is a performance organization based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was founded in 1963 by the Walker Art Center, and is known for premiering such diverse works as Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak and Frankenstein by Libby Larsen...

, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra , based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, is the United States' only full-time professional chamber orchestra...

, and The Schubert Club

Schubert Club

The Schubert Club, established in 1882, is a non-profit arts organization in St. Paul, Minnesota that promotes the art of music, particularly recital music...

. James Rocco

Jamie Rocco

James Rocco is currently the Vice President and Producing Artistic Director at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and is responsible for producing, presenting and booking theatrical rogramming on the Main Stage and the adjacent McKnight Theatre...

 is currently the center's Vice President and Producing Artistic Director.

History

In 1980, Saint Paul resident Sally Ordway Irvine (3M

3M

3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....

 heiress and arts patron) dreamed of a European-style concert hall offering “everything from opera to the Russian circus.” Sally contributed $7.5 million—a sum matched by other members of the Ordway family—toward the cost of the facility. Fifteen Twin Cities corporations and foundations were the principal funders of the $46 million complex, then the most expensive privately funded arts facility ever built in the state. The internationally known architect (and Saint Paul native) Benjamin Thompson

Benjamin C. Thompson

Benjamin C. Thompson was an American architect.Thompson was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, graduated from Yale University in 1941, then spent four years in the United States Navy fighting in World War II...

, whose other projects included the Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall

Faneuil Hall , located near the waterfront and today's Government Center, in Boston, Massachusetts, has been a marketplace and a meeting hall since 1742. It was the site of several speeches by Samuel Adams, James Otis, and others encouraging independence from Great Britain, and is now part of...

 renovation in Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 and South Street Seaport

South Street Seaport

The South Street Seaport is a historic area in the New York City borough of Manhattan, located where Fulton Street meets the East River, and adjacent to the Financial District. The Seaport is a designated historic district, distinct from the neighboring Financial District...

 in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, was selected to design a building that would project “a visible contemporary image” but would also fit harmoniously on a site facing Rice Park, a block-square park framed by historic buildings. As designed by Thompson, Ordway Center (originally named Ordway Music Theatre) contains the Main Hall (1,900 seats); an intimate McKnight Theatre (306 seats); two large rehearsal rooms; and the Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious two-story lobby with a glass curtain-wall through which theater-goers enjoy a sweeping panorama of Rice Park, its surrounding buildings, and in the distance, the Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

.

Ordway Center opened its doors to the public on January 1, 1985 as Ordway Music Theatre. The name was changed in 2000 to reflect the vast array of performing arts that take place under its roof.

Today Ordway Center for the Performing Arts is recognized as one of the nation’s leading not-for-profit performing arts centers serving 400,000 people annually with nearly 500 performances. It is home to a wide variety of performances that encompass the finest in musical theater, children’s theater, world music and dance, orchestra, opera, and recitals.

About the building

Ordway Center contains the 1,900 seat Main Hall, the intimate 306 seat McKnight Theatre; two large rehearsal halls, and magnificent lobbies on each floor, including the second floor Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious, two story lobby encircled by a glass facade.

Architect	Benjamin Thompson and Associates
Contractor	McGough Construction
Building Area	160000 square feet (14,864.5 m²)
Site Area	90000 square feet (8,361.3 m²)
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area	38000 square feet (3,530.3 m²)
Back of House Area	22000 square feet (2,043.9 m²)
Rehearsal Room Area	4800 square feet (445.9 m²)

Interior

Woodwork (public areas)	Honduran Honduras Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...  mahogany Mahogany The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
Original Carpet	Designed by Benjamin Thompson and Associates. 6,000 square yards, manufactured by Mohawk Mills, Greenville, Mississippi Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 48,633 at the 2000 census, but according to the 2009 census bureau estimates, it has since declined to 42,764, making it the eighth-largest city in the state. It is the county seat of Washington...
Lobby Tile	Imported from Wales Wales Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²... , United Kingdom
Chandeliers	Twelve total: handcrafted chimneys from West Virginia West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east... ; brass bases from Winona Studio Lighting, Winona, Minnesota Winona, Minnesota Winona is a city in and the county seat of Winona County, in the U.S. State of Minnesota. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf....
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area	38000 square feet (3,530.3 m²)

Exterior

Main Façade	Copper-clad exterior window and fascia system, with more than 500 insulated glass panels.
Brickwork	Handmade brick by Kane Gonic Brickworks of Gonic, New Hampshire. Each brick has variation in color and texture for a rich, handcrafted texture.
Brick pattern	Flemish Bond. Pattern: Two “stretchers” laid lengthwise, one “header” laid crosswise.