Powell Hall’s renewal featured in The New York Times

The story celebrates the project as a powerful symbol of St. Louis’s resurgence and proof of how design and music can reinvigorate a city’s spirit. 

Christner Architects, now part of CannonDesign, served as prime architect and architect of record for Powell Hall, leading the design and delivery of the building’s comprehensive renovation and expansion, with Snøhetta serving as design architect. The Christner team guided every aspect of the historic restoration, reimagined the orchestra’s back-of-house spaces and brought the complex new addition to life — translating an ambitious design into an elegant reality. 

The new 64,000-square-foot addition wraps around the 1925 building while preserving the character of a structure listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The expanded Powell Hall, now known as the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, enhances the concert experience for both performers and patrons with new rehearsal spaces, accessible amenities and a façade whose sloped and concave form evokes the lyrical movement of music itself. 

Powell Hall first opened in 1925 as a grand movie palace and vaudeville hall before becoming the Symphony’s home in 1968. “It was not a hall made for an orchestra,” as Music Director Stéphane Denève told The Times. That changed with the reopening, which preserves the hall’s celebrated acoustics, “the soul of the hall,” Denève said, while introducing new spaces that reflect the vibrancy of St. Louis’s cultural future. 

Now totaling 125,000 square feet, the Jack C. Taylor Music Center includes dedicated space for music education, two choruses, the youth orchestra and a studio for St. Louis Public Radio to broadcast Saturday night performances. 

We’re proud to celebrate this extraordinary project and the national recognition it’s received for helping reimagine one of America’s most beloved cultural landmarks.