St. Cecilia Music Center

Last updated
St. Cecilia Society Building
StCeciliaSocietyBuildingGrandRapidsMI.jpg
USA Michigan location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location24-30 Ransom Ave., NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Coordinates 42°57′49″N85°39′53″W / 42.96361°N 85.66472°W / 42.96361; -85.66472 (St. Cecilia Society Building)
Arealess than one acre
Built1894 (1894)
ArchitectHenry Ives Cobb
Architectural style Renaissance Revival
NRHP reference No. 71000401 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 9, 1971

The St. Cecilia Music Center, built in 1894 as the St. Cecilia Society Building, is a performance space located at 24 Ransom Avenue NE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. [1] As of 2019, the building continues to house a musical performance space, ran by the original organization which built it. [2]

Contents

History

The St. Cecilia Society was founded in 1883 as a women's club devoted to "musical improvement and to the development in the community." The organization was named after Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of musicians. [2] Within a few months membership had grown from nine women to nearly 100. In 1894, the Society decided to construct their own performance space, and hired Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb to design a new building. The building was dedicated June 19, 1894. [3] The building underwent a major renovation in 1925 to expand the seating capacity. The building was renovated again in 2016. [4]

In 1970, the St. Cecilia Society changed its name to the St. Cecilia Music Society; in 2007 it was changed again to the St. Cecilia Music Center. [4] Over the years, a number of nationally known musicians, singers, and conductors performed in the building, including Ernestine Schumann-Heink, Edward MacDowell, Olga Samaroff, and Ossip Gabrilowitsch. In addition, the Grand Rapids Symphony was started under the sponsorship of the Society, and run that way for many years. [3]

Description

The St. Cecilia Society Building is a two-story brick Renaissance Revival structure with a full basement. It has a flat roof covered with tar and gravel. The main facade is of brick on the second floor and stone on the first. There is terra cotta detailing around the arched and square window and door openings. The windows are of leaded glass, and the front entrance is flanked by elegant wrought iron entrance lights. A terra cotta frieze and cornice runs across the top. On the interior, the building contains a foyer, ballroom, office, small kitchen, an 80 foot by 100 foot auditorium, and dressing rooms. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Washington Avenue Historic District (St. Louis, Missouri)</span> Historic district in Missouri, United States

The Washington Avenue Historic District is located in Downtown West, St. Louis, Missouri along Washington Avenue, and bounded by Delmar Boulevard to the north, Locust Street to the south, 8th Street on the east, and 18th Street on the west. The buildings date from the late 19th century to the early 1920s. They exhibit a variety of popular architectural styles of those years, but most are revival styles or in the commercial style that would later come to be known as the Chicago School of architecture. Most are large multi-story buildings of brick and stone construction, built as warehouses for the St. Louis garment district. Many have terra cotta accents on their facades. After World War II, the decline in domestic garment production and the preference for single-story industrial space led to many of the buildings being vacant or underused due to functional obsolescence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powell Hall</span> Concert hall, former theater and movie theater in St. Louis, Missouri

Powell Hall is the home of the St. Louis Symphony. Erected in 1925 as the St. Louis Theatre, the theatre presented live vaudeville and motion pictures. The theatre was acquired by the St. Louis Symphony Society in 1966 and renamed Powell Symphony Hall after Walter S. Powell, a local St. Louis businessman, whose widow donated $1 million towards the purchase and use of this hall by the symphony. The hall seats 2,683.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Howard Greenley</span> American architect

Howard Greenley (1874–1963) was an architect who worked during the late 19th and 20th centuries and known mainly for his work in New York City, Long Island, and Newport, Rhode Island. Greenley was a prominent figure in the architectural world in his time, He graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut in 1894, having trained initially in the office of Carrere and Hastings and then at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Greenley served as the president of the Architectural League of New York for a quarter of a century, and was one of the featured architects in the book Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects 1860 to 1940 by Robert Mackay and Brendan Gill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tarrytown Music Hall</span>

The Music Hall, in Tarrytown, New York, United States, is located on West Main Street downtown. It is a brick structure in the Queen Anne architectural style erected in the late 19th century. In 1980, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Van Allen Building</span> United States historic place

The Van Allen Building, also known as Van Allen and Company Department Store, is a historic commercial building at Fifth Avenue and South Second Street in Clinton, Iowa. The four-story building was designed by Louis Sullivan and commissioned by John Delbert Van Allen. Constructed 1912–1914 as a department store, it now has upper floor apartments with ground floor commercial space. The exterior has brick spandrels and piers over the structural steel skeletal frame. Terra cotta is used for horizontal accent banding and for three slender, vertical applied mullion medallions on the front facade running through three stories, from ornate corbels at the second-floor level to huge outbursts of vivid green terra cotta foliage in the attic. There is a very slight cornice. Black marble facing is used around the glass show windows on the first floor. The walls are made of long thin bricks in a burnt gray color with a tinge of purple. Above the ground floor all the windows are framed by a light gray terra cotta. The tile panels in Dutch blue and white pay tribute to Mr. Van Allen's Dutch heritage of which he was quite proud.. The Van Allen Building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fitchburg Historical Society</span> United States historic place

The Fitchburg Historical Society is a historical society whose mission is to collect, preserve, and present the history of Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The society was founded in 1892, and is now headquartered in the historic Phoenix Building at 781 Main Street. The society's original 1912 headquarters building, designed by architect H. M. Francis, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The society operates three days a week and is open from 10am to 4pm Mondays and Tuesdays with a longer day on Wednesday from 10am to 6pm. They offer genealogical research, a library of local history, and numerous volunteer opportunities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddystone Building</span> United States historic place

The Eddystone Building is an apartment building and former hotel located in Midtown Detroit, Michigan, at 100-118 Sproat Street. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. Cecilia Church and Convent (New York City)</span> Church in Manhattan, New York

St. Cecilia Church is a Roman Catholic parish church in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York and a historic landmark located at 120 East 106th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York. The parish was established in 1873. It was staffed by the Redemptorist Fathers from 1939 to 2007. The church was designated a New York City landmark in 1976. The church and convent were listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1984.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States Forest Service Building (Ogden, Utah)</span> Historic government building in Ogden, Utah, United States

The U.S. Forest Service Building is a historic building within the Ogden Central Bench Historic District in Ogden, Utah, United States, owned by the United States federal government. Located at 507 25th Street, it is listed as a Historic Federal Building, and was constructed during the years 1933–1934. Its primary task was to provide offices for the U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region, the Experimental Station, and the Supply Depot. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hayes Hotel</span> United States historic place

The Hayes Hotel is a former hotel located at 226-234 West Michigan Avenue in Jackson, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotel Blackhawk</span> United States historic place

The Hotel Blackhawk is an eleven-story brick and terra cotta building located in Downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is a Marriott Autograph Collection property.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hook and Ladder No. 4</span> United States historic place

Hook and Ladder No. 4, originally Truck No. 4, is a firehouse located at Delaware Avenue in Albany, New York, United States. It is an elaborate brick structure in the Dutch Colonial Revival architectural style, designed by Albany architect Marcus T. Reynolds, and completed in 1912. In 2001 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elks Lodge No. 1353</span> United States historic place

The Elks Lodge No. 1353 is a historic building located in Casper, Wyoming. It was built in 1922 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minnesota Building</span> United States historic place

The Minnesota Building is a historic office building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. The structure was placed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on June 10, 2009. The building was noted for its design, which was a harbinger for the transition from Classical architecture to the Art Deco/Moderne among commercial buildings in downtown Saint Paul; originally designed in a conservative style, the building became more Moderne as it was being built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Main Library (Erie, Pennsylvania)</span> United States historic place

The Main Library, also known as the Erie Public Library, combines elements of the Beaux Arts Classicism and Second Renaissance Revival styles of architecture. Both were commonly used at the end of the nineteenth century to convey the importance of public buildings. The building features arched openings, a prominent cornice, swag and garland decorations, and a roofline balustrade. It is clad in Pompeian red brick. The original facade is dominated by a marble portico, which was removed and stored by previous owners. It was reassembled and conserved as part of the renovation, recapturing the library's original grandeur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Hutchens Building</span> United States historic place

The Terry Hutchens Building is a historic office and apartment building in Huntsville, Alabama. The seven-story structure was originally constructed in 1925 for the Tennessee Valley Bank, with office space rented to other tenants. In 2002, the upper floors were renovated into condominiums. The structure is of steel reinforced concrete faced with brick, giving a Gothic Revival appearance. The ground floor façade has large display windows separated by brick piers, and has a central, arched entry covered in masonry. The Jefferson Street façade was originally treated the same way, but was modified with a flat wall of thin brick above two storefront entrances. A decorative band with rowlock course brick and terra cotta panels separate the ground floor from the rest of the building. Above, the piers divide each bay containing a pair of one-over-one sash windows; on the seventh floor, a green terra cotta frog sits on the sill, between the windows. Each bay of the cornice is divided by terra cotta decorated with Gothic shapes and medallions on panels of brick. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kingsley Building</span> United States historic place

The Kingsley Building is a mixed use apartment building located at 1415 Lake Drive SE in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It was originally a warehouse and office building called the Grand Rapids Storage and Van Company Building. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lincoln School (Madison, Wisconsin)</span> United States historic place

Lincoln School is a historic school building at 728 E. Gorham Street in Madison, Wisconsin. The school was built in 1915 on the site of the Second Ward School, which had been in operation since 1866. Architects Claude and Starck, who designed several other Wisconsin schools along with libraries throughout the Midwest, designed the school in the Prairie School style. The school has a yellow brick exterior with terra cotta banding, multi-story brick pilasters topped with terra cotta capitals separating its windows, and a terra cotta tympanum atop both main entrances. The terra cotta moldings have the same designs as the Merchants National Bank in Winona, Minnesota; its architects, Purcell and Elmslie, were colleagues of Claude and Starck and likely gave them permission to copy the design. The school operated until 1963, when the Madison Art Center moved into the building; the Art Center left in 1980, and it was converted to apartments in 1985.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Railroad and Bank Building</span> Historic building in Saint Paul, Minnesota, U.S.

The Railroad and Bank Building at 176 E. 5th Street in St. Paul, Minnesota, renamed Great Northern Building in 2019, was the largest office building in the Upper Midwest from its completion in 1914 until 1973. For most of its existence, it was the headquarters of the business empire created by 19th century railroad entrepreneur James J. Hill. The building is the work of architect Charles Sumner Frost and is a contributing property of the St. Paul's Lowertown Historic District. After the decline of the railroads in the United States, the building has been used as leased office space with some retail operations on the lower floors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central Steam Heat Plant</span> United States historic place

The Central Steam Heat Plant, commonly known as Steam Plant Square, or simply as the Steam Plant, is a historic building in Downtown Spokane, Washington. Originally built to provide steam heating to more than 300 buildings in Spokane's city center, the Steam Plant served that purpose until the 1980s, when it was no longer viable. In the 1990s, the Steam Plant and adjacent Seehorn-Lang Building were converted into Steam Plant Square, a commercial, retail and restaurant center. The conversion maintained many of the industrial steam plant structures such as furnaces, boilers, catwalks and pipe networks, which can still be seen and explored by visitors and patrons. The Steam Plant's pair of 225-foot-tall stacks have been a unique and iconic aspect of the city's skyline for more than a century, and are illuminated from their base at night. If the stacks were considered to be a building, they would rank as the third tallest in the city.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. 1 2 "Mission and History". St. Cecilia Music Center. Retrieved July 17, 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 Constance Henslee (May 10, 1971), National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: St. Cecilia Society Building, National Park Service
  4. 1 2 St. Cecilia Music Center Building Tour (PDF), St. Cecilia Music Center