The Elliott Hall of Music is a

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

located on the campus of

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and mone ...

West Lafayette, Indiana West Lafayette () is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, about northwest of the state capital of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. West Lafayette is directly across the Wabash River from its sister cit ...

. With a

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

of 6,005, it is one of the largest proscenium theaters in the world, and is 45 seats larger than Radio City Music Hall. The facility is named after Edward C. Elliott (1874–1960), who served as President of Purdue University from 1922 to 1945. The stage of the hall is one of the largest in the country. It is roughly the same size as the stage of the Dolby Theatre in

Hollywood, California Hollywood is a neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Its name has come to be a shorthand reference for the U.S. film industry and the people associated with it. Many notable film studios, such as Columbia Pictures, ...

. The hall was designed by Walter Scholer, assisted by consulting

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

J. Andre Fouilhoux (who was also one of the architects for New York's Radio City Music Hall). Construction began in October 1938 and was completed on May 2, 1940, at a cost of US$1.205 million. The facility was dedicated as the "Purdue Hall of Music" on May 3–4, 1940, and was renamed in honor of Elliott in 1958. The Elliott Hall of Music is connected to Hovde Hall, Purdue University's administration building, by a walkway on the second floor. This arrangement allows for the use of the formal entry and receiving hall in the administration building (otherwise not used at nights and weekends when performances are typically held) to serve the Hall of Music, saving both cost and space during the depression era construction. During spring commencement exercises, students process up the staircase in front of Hovde Hall and go through the walkway into the Hall of Music where the ceremony is held. For winter commencement exercises, students enter the Hall of Music through the Purdue Bands entrance located behind the stage, where they proceed under the structure and to the rear of the auditorium where they enter, as this entrance is much closer to the building where candidates are marshaled for the procession. Locally, the building is informally known as Elliott Hall or the Hall of Music. Evening exams for large, multi-section classes (e.g. Introductory Calculus, Principles of Accounting) are often scheduled in Elliott Hall of Music. In a typical exam seating arrangement (every other seat occupied), Elliott can handle about 3000 students during one exam. Elliott Hall of Music contains the offices of the Purdue All-American Marching Band, Purdue Bands and Orchestras, the WBAA studio, and Hall of Music Productions, the department which provides facility management and box office services for the Hall of Music, as well as production services throughout the Purdue campus.

References

External links

Official websiteHall of Music Productions
{{Authority control Concert halls in Indiana Theatres in Indiana Music venues in Indiana Purdue University buildings West Lafayette, Indiana Tourist attractions in Tippecanoe County, Indiana