Jones Hall

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The Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts, commonly called Jones Hall, is a concert venue in Downtown Houston. It is the home of the Houston Symphony Orchestra and the Society for the Performing Arts, and it also hosts contemporary pop concerts. The hall draws about 400,000 visitors each year.

Location and management
Jones Hall is at 615 Louisiana Street in Houston, Texas. It is owned by the City of Houston and operated by the Houston First Corporation.

History and design
The hall opened on October 2, 1966, at a cost of $7.4 million. It was named after Jesse H. Jones, a former U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Houstonian. The project was funded by the Houston Endowment. The building was designed by the architectural firm Caudill Rowlett Scott. Its exterior is white Italian marble with eight-story columns, and the interior includes a basement and a sub-basement used as a rehearsal room. The lobby features a 60-foot-high ceiling and a large hanging bronze sculpture, Gemini II, by Richard Lippold.

Auditorium and acoustics
The concert hall has a ceiling made of 800 hexagonal panels that can be raised or lowered to adjust acoustics. Lowering the panels can even close the upper balcony, changing seating capacity from about 2,300 (balcony closed) to 2,911 (balcony open). The acoustics were designed by Bolt, Beranek and Newman.

Renovations and awards
Jones Hall received the American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award in 1967. It has undergone renovations to improve accessibility in 1993 (ADA compliance). A major renovation from 2001 to 2003 repaired exterior marble panels, addressed flood damage from Tropical Storm Allison, and removed asbestos inside the building, at a cost of about $28 million.