Symphony Center

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Symphony Center is a music complex in Chicago, Illinois and is home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Symphony Center includes Orchestra Hall, which dates from 1904; Buntrock Hall, a rehearsal and performance space; a public multi-story rotunda; Rhapsoday restaurant; and administrative offices. In June 1993, plans to significantly renovate and expand Orchestra Hall were approved and the $110 million project resulting in Symphony Center was completed from 1995 to 1997.

Orchestra Hall was built in 1904. It was designed by renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. Construction began on May 1, 1904 and the first concert was held on December 14, 1904. The building has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade, after the orchestra's first music director. The names Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, and Wagner are inscribed above the ballroom windows on the façade.

Orchestra Hall was also used as a movie theater during the 1910s, to maintain income during the summer months, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra would be playing at the Ravinia Festival. Lectures and other programs were held at Orchestra Hall in the 1920s and 1930s, with speakers including Harry Houdini, Richard E. Byrd, Amelia Earhart, Bertrand Russell and Orson Welles.