“Kleinhans Music Hall will have 407 fewer seats this concert season, following the installation this summer of the first new seats since 1969,” writes Mark Sommer in Tuesday’s (8/18) Buffalo News (New York). “Each blue-upholstered seat will be 3 inches wider—22 inches…. The installation of the new seats in the home of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra is part of the music hall’s 75th anniversary celebration this year. ‘People who have tried the new seats say they can feel the difference,’ said Daniel Hart, the BPO’s executive director…. The new seats … are being installed on the same metal rail system as the 47-year-old seats that are being replaced…. Ted Lownie, Kleinhans’ architectural consultant, paid close attention to the original seat specifications and materials of Finnish architects Eliel and Eero Saarinen…. Other recent improvements to the National Historic Landmark … include a new heating, ventilating and air conditioning system, expansion of the women’s lavatory downstairs, repairs to woodwork, updates to the electrical system and installation of cost-efficient lighting…. The concert hall … opened on Oct. 12, 1940. It cost $1.3 million to build.”
Posted August 21, 2015
