Columbus Hall, School building and theatre in Orange, US

Columbus Hall is a school building and theatre in Orange featuring a wide entrance flanked by matching stone staircases and an ornate front facade. The main structure showcases large cut stone arches and is constructed with buff-colored brick accented with terra cotta decorative elements throughout.

Columbus Hall was designed by Newark architect Jeremiah O'Rourke and named for the 400th anniversary of Columbus's landing in the Americas. Newark Bishop Winand Wigger laid the cornerstone on April 9, 1893, and construction was finished in December 1894. It was built to house St. John's Parish School, founded in 1862, and the school closed in 2012 on its 150th anniversary.

The name marks the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's 1492 landing. The parish school inside, St. John's School, was founded in 1862, 32 years before the building opened, and was staffed by the Sisters of Charity of St. Elizabeth and the De LaSalle Christian Brothers. It closed in 2012 on its 150th anniversary.

The theatre occupies the third and fourth floors, reached by the main entrance staircases; its balcony hangs from the roof trusses on brass-encased iron rods, so no columns block the view. The city fire department had it closed around 1958, so the auditorium is not open for performances.

The gilded Sacred Heart of Jesus atop the dome, about 25 feet tall with arms extended, was knocked down by a windstorm in September 2012 and removed; the refurbished statue was returned to the cupola in October 2025.