Symphony Center, Concert hall in Michigan Avenue, Chicago, United States
Symphony Center is a music complex at 220 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago, built around Orchestra Hall of 1904 by Daniel Burnham. Its symmetrical facade of dark pink brick and white limestone trim carries the names Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner above three round-arched ground-floor windows. The main auditorium seats 2,522.
Orchestra Hall was built in 1904 for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which had performed at the Auditorium Theatre. Construction began on May 1, 1904, and the first concert was given on December 14, 1904. The hall was named for Theodore Thomas, the orchestra's first music director, who died less than a month after his conducting debut there. It was designated a National Historic Landmark on April 19, 1994.
The names Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Wagner appear carved in limestone bands above the second floor. These five composers mark the building's connection to classical music and welcome visitors even before they step inside.
The center includes Buntrock Hall, the Grainger Ballroom, a multi-story rotunda and the Forte restaurant in different parts of the complex. These spaces host receptions, smaller concerts and social gatherings around the main performances.
From 1907 to 1996 the ninth-floor penthouse housed the Cliff Dwellers Club, with interiors by Howard Van Doren Shaw and the first major mural by John Warner Norton. The limestone balustrade above the cornice hides that added ninth floor. The second floor has three two-storey windows topped with Georgian fanlights.
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