Visitors tour the lobby of Powell Hall as expansion work continues at the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s home. Photo by Robert Cohen/Post-Dispatch.
In Thursday’s (4/18) St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Steph Kukuljan writes, “The $134 million renovation of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra’s historic home, Powell Hall, is essentially on-time and on-budget, officials said Wednesday. Some new additions: More bars. A café facing Grand Boulevard. And fewer seats, but with better views. An expansion of the facility includes a new lobby and visitor center, an education and learning center, and a new backstage area…. Steven L. Finerty, the Symphony’s board chair, said … ‘It’s going to be a must-see.’ The project, announced in 2022, calls for a 64,000-square-foot addition that will wrap around the south and east sides of the building … It will house a new learning center, lobby and expanded backstage area that will be more inviting to visitors, musicians and the Grand Center neighborhood. Marie-Hélène Bernard, the Symphony’s president and CEO, said the venue will be transformed from an ‘enclosed black box into a hall that opens into the community.’ Officials expect it to open in 2025. Built in 1925, Powell Hall was initially … a vaudeville house and movie theater. It was renovated in 1968 when it became the Symphony’s permanent home.”
