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Symphony set to move into new downtown home
DJC Special Showcase: Benaroya Hall
BY JERRY CRAIG
The Seattle Symphony will soon have a home of its own.
For over nine decades, the symphony has shared a number of venues, none specifically designed to meet the highest acoustical standards of concert music.
But that all ends Sept. 12 when the $118 million Benaroya Hall opens in downtown Seattle with the symphony's music director, Gerard Schwarz, conducting and famed soprano Jessye Norman as the featured soloist.
The Seattle Symphony's home since the 1962-63 season has been the multi-purpose Seattle Center Opera House which was extensively renovated in 1962 for the World's Fair. However, many music fans felt that the Opera House lacked the acoustical characteristics to make it a truly successful concert hall.
The Opera House also had to be shared with a number of other tenants such as the Seattle Opera and Pacific Northwest Ballet, making the scheduling of rehearsals and performances difficult and frustrating.
The symphony's search for a home of its own began in earnest in 1986 with the help of the Kreilsheimer Foundation which agreed to donate land near the Seattle Center. City officials began a series of financial and design feasibility studies on the issue of whether a new concert hall should -- and could -- be built.
It was initially proposed that a new home for the symphony be located on Kreilsheimer Foundation property on the north side of Mercer Street between Second and Third Avenue North.
In 1987, the Seattle-based architectural firm of Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm (LMN) and internationally recognized acoustic consultant Cyril Harris began research and design work for a new concert hall.
Funding commitments were soon made by various levels of government and private sources in support of a new symphony hall which then had a projected cost of $62 million. Significant milestones followed, including a $15 million gift from the Benaroya family in 1993 and a $40.7 million appropriation from the Seattle City Council in 1994.
In the meantime, the site was changed to downtown, on a full-block site bounded by Union and University streets, Second and Third avenues.
On April 23, 1996, construction began with the demolition of the Jones Building. At the same time, the symphony announced that it already had secured over $50 million in private funding -- a record for any arts project in Washington state history.
Ironically, the site of the symphony's first home is located across Second Avenue from Benaroya Hall. In December, 1903 the inaugural concert was held in Christiansen Hall, where the Seattle Art Museum is now located.
This is the first time in more than a decade that a hall designed exclusively for concerts has been built in the United States. It most likely will be this country's last to open in the 20th century.
The 187,000-square-foot building will have two spaces for musical performances: a 2,500-seat main auditorium and 540-seat recital hall. The auditorium will be rectangular with the stage enclosed in a permanent acoustic "shell."
The entrance to a two-level 430-space underground parking garage will be located on Second Avenue near Union Street.
Restroom facilities will include 58 stalls for women and 33 stalls for men. According to the hall's designers, this is a significantly better ratio than that of any other comparable facility in Seattle.
Exterior materials are gray-green granite, buff-colored Kasota limestone and anodized metal panels in light and dark gray.
Half an acre of open space along Second Avenue will include a Garden of Remembrance to commemorate those who lost their lives in war, and continue the University Street hillclimb on the south side of the building.
During the inaugural 1998-99 season, more than 130 symphonic performances have been scheduled, an increase of about 30 percent over the previous season.
The City of Seattle will own Benaroya Hall. The Seattle Symphony through an affiliate corporation, BH Music Center, will be the primary tenant and responsible for managing and operating the facility.
General contractor for Benaroya Hall is Baugh Const., Seattle, with Blair Engle the senior project manager.
The architect is LMN Architects (Loschky Marquardt & Nesholm), Seattle. Judsen Marquardt is the partner-in-charge; Mark Reddington, the design partner; and James Cade the project manager.
Project consultants include Murase Associates, Seattle, landscape architecture; Sparling, Seattle, electrical engineer; Robert Pielow Associates, Lawrence, Kan., life safety codes; Horton Lees, San Francisco, lighting; Notkin Engineering, Seattle, mechanical engineer; Skilling Ward Magnusson Barkshire, Seattle, structural engineer; Theatre Projects Consultants, Ridgefield, Conn., theater; and Wilson Ihrig & Associates, Oakland, Calif., vibration isolation.
Project management is by The Boeing Co., Seattle. James J. Nelson is executive advisor; Robert Wicklein, project director; and Andrew Clapham, project manager.
Public art is being supplied through the 1% for Art Program of the Seattle Arts Commission as well as Anna Valentina Murch of San Francisco and Erin Shie Palmer of Seattle. Commissioned art is from Robert Rauschenberg and Dale Chihuly.
The pipe organ will be supplied by C.B. Fisk Inc., of Gloucester, Mass.
Copyright © 1998 Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce. | |||||
