The Paul Mellon Arts Center (PMAC) is an arts building on the campus of

Choate Rosemary Hall Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...

Wallingford, Connecticut Wallingford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States, centrally located between New Haven and Hartford, and Boston and New York City. The population was 44,396 at the 2020 census. The community was named after Wallingford, in En ...

I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners ( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...

. The original design began in 1968 and the building was completed in 1972. It was funded in large part by school alumnus

Paul Mellon Paul Mellon (June 11, 1907 – February 1, 1999) was an American philanthropist and an owner/breeder of thoroughbred racehorses. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall ...

, who was also responsible as the National Gallery's president for Pei's commission for the East Building of the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

at roughly the same time.

Structure

The physical structure has a rectangular footprint but is divided into two wings: the Theater Wing, which houses a 760-seat, two level proscenium theater as well as a

black box theater A black box theater is a simple performance space, typically a square room with black walls and a flat floor. The simplicity of the space allows it to be used to create a variety of configurations of stage and audience interaction. The black ...

; and the Triangle Wing, which has five levels of practice rooms, art studios, classrooms, offices, and a recording studio. The two wings are connected underground by the black box theater. The building was constructed around the time at which the Rosemary Hall school for girls and the Choate School for boys joined to become a single, coeducational institution and quickly became a physical and symbolic link between the two campuses. Today, it retains less of this meaning, for the two schools' campuses are no longer separated as they were in the early 1970s.

External links

Pei Cobb & Freed's Building Description
I. M. Pei buildings Buildings and structures in Wallingford, Connecticut Tourist attractions in New Haven County, Connecticut {{Connecticut-struct-stub