Jones Hall

Jones Hall, the vision of businessman Jesse Holman Jones, was the first purpose-built performing arts facility in Houston, given to the City by the Houston Endowment and dedicated in 1966 as home to the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera and Performing Arts Houston. It is owned by the City of Houston and managed by the Houston First Corporation, with Foundation for Jones Hall managing backstage operations. The original cost was $7.4 million. Designed by then-Houston firm Caudill Rowlett Scott in the formalism style, the architecture was radically new and has stood the test of time, with numerous awards received over the years. Jones Hall's design has been praised as “ingenious and stunning.” The architects faced the challenge of building an enormous concert hall on a small downtown block. Rather than aligning the entrance, lobby and performance Performing Arts Houston, the designers placed the auditorium diagonally and wrapped the lobby around it. High above the lobby is sculptor Richard Lippold's "Gemini II," a gossamer web of aluminum and wire commissioned by Houston Endowment. Both modern and classical, with sheer walls of marble and eight-story columns, Jones Hall won the national American Institute of Architects' Honor Award one year after opening. With some 800 adjustable acoustic pods attached to the concert Performing Arts Houston's ceiling, the hall was billed as having the most advanced sound technology of its era.