The Edward C. Elliott Hall of Music is located on the Purdue University campus in West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. With a seating capacity of 6,005, it is one of the largest proscenium theaters in the world, and is about 100 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.
The hall was designed by Walter Scholer, assisted by consulting architect 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$1,205,000. 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. During spring commencement exercises, students walk 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.
Locally, the building is informally known as Elliott Hall or the Hall of Music. Evening exams for large classes (typically math) are often scheduled in Elliott Hall of Music. In a typical exam seating arrangement (every other seat occupied), Elliot can handle about 3000 students during one exam.
Elliott Hall of Music contains the offices of the Purdue All-American Marching Band, Purdue Musical Organizations, 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.
Famous quotes containing the words hall and/or music:
“Let us not be too much acquainted. I would have a man enter his house through a hall filled with heroic and sacred sculptures, that he might not want the hint of tranquillity and self-poise.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“I used to be angry all the time and I’d sit there weaving my anger. Now I’m not angry. I sit there hearing the sounds outside, the sounds in the room, the sounds of the treadles and heddles—a music of my own making.”
—Bhakti Ziek (b. c. 1946)