Powell Hall Renovation and Expansion

A historic hall, reimagined for artists and audiences

The project entailed a careful historic restoration of the 1925 hall, the creation of entirely new back-of-house spaces for the orchestra as part of the expanded footprint and the design of a complex new addition that expands the building’s capabilities while respecting its architectural legacy.

Powell Hall St Louis Symphony Orchestra 04 — The project entailed a careful historic restoration of the 1925 hall, the creation of entirely new back-of-house spaces for the orchestra as part of the expanded footprint and the design of a complex new addition that expands the building’s capabilities while respecting its architectural legacy.

Client: St. Louis Symphony Orchestra
Location: Missouri, United States
Size: 65,000 square feet
Status: Completed

Originally opened in 1925 as a grand movie palace, Powell Hall has long stood as one of St. Louis’s most beloved cultural landmarks and the permanent home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Over nearly a century, the hall became an icon, not only for its architecture but for the shared experiences it fostered across generations. The renovation and expansion of Powell Hall sought to honor this legacy while transforming the building to meet the needs of today’s artists, audiences and performances.

Christner Architects (now part of CannonDesign) served as prime architect and architect of record, leading the renovation and expansion of Powell Hall in collaboration with Snøhetta as design architect. Our team directed the historic restoration, reimagined back-of-house spaces for the orchestra and delivered a complex new addition, bringing an ambitious design vision to life while ensuring the hall’s legacy as a world-class performance venue.

Powell Hall St Louis Symphony Orchestra 18

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.

Powell Hall opened in 1925 as a grand movie palace and vaudeville hall before becoming the home of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1968. Though it was never originally designed for orchestral performance, the hall has been reimagined through its reopening, preserving its celebrated acoustics, often described as “the soul of the hall,” while introducing new spaces that reflect the vibrancy of St. Louis’s cultural future.

Read the New York Times' review of Powell Hall's renewal

Powell Hall St Louis Symphony Orchestra 03

The 2,150-seat auditorium was carefully restored, from the ceiling plasterwork overhead down to the newly ADA-accessible aisles and seating.

Powell Hall St Louis Symphony Orchestra 06

The expanded Powell Hall, now known as the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, is inspired by the spatial language of historic concert halls and the forms of musical instruments. The entry into the new addition unfolds as a composition of angled shells in raked masonry. These inclined planes and arched openings define a new front-of-house presence, while large arched windows animate the façade, offering moments of delight and a preview of the creative energy inside.

Within, a sequence of gathering spaces is organized around a triple-height volume, with layered terraces that overlook one another and invite audiences to see and be seen as they arrive and gather.

The dramatic centerpiece of the atrium is a spiraling stairway that unfurls into balconies.

A new back-of-house addition along the east side of Powell Hall delivers purpose-built spaces for musicians, staff and community use. The expansion supports rehearsals, education and collaborative programming while creating upgraded rehearsal rooms for ensembles, expanded backstage areas, new media and recording suites and dedicated storage for musicians and guest artists.