SLSO Stories

Follow Along with the Powell Hall Expansion and Renovation

Powell Hall is one of America’s most acoustically renowned and visually stunning concert halls—and home to your St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. We’re renovating and expanding the 98-year-old building to preserve and enhance our civic treasure for generations to come.

This project is inspired by you: our goal is to provide greater access to music, an even more welcoming and comfortable experience for all, and a creative hub that helps us build connections through the power of music.

The revitalized Powell Hall will open in 2025 to coincide with the building’s centennial. We look forward to celebrating with you.

Learn more about the expansion and renovation

June 2, 2025

Yes, the iconic red carpet is back! Recently, crews from Flooring Systems Inc.—a St. Louis-based firm—began installing the red carpeting in the auditorium. When the Jack C. Taylor Music Center opens in September, the familiar red will once again cover floors in the auditorium, corridors, and the staircase in Powell Hall. 

The carpet installation follows several weeks of hardwood planks and parquet flooring preparation and installation on the orchestra level and in the balcony. The hardwood, along with the signature red carpet, will retain the historic aesthetic and acoustic properties that concert attendees have enjoyed for decades. 

  • April 23, 2025

    What was once the Powell Hall Box Office will get a new life when the Jack C. Taylor Music Center opens in September 2025. This spring, construction crews are transforming the former Box Office space into a café and concessions area, one of six planned for the renovated and expanded venue. Framing work continued in […]

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  • April 10, 2025

    The new main entrance to Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center took another step towards completion with the recent installation of glass panels. Bright and open, the new entrance allows sunlight to stream into the space, facilitating a more connected feeling to the surrounding community.

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  • Powell Hall expansion and renovation

    April 4, 2025

    The new main entrance to Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center took another step towards completion with the recent installation of glass panels. Bright and open, the new entrance allows sunlight to stream into the space, facilitating a more connected feeling to the surrounding community. The arched entryway is one of four […]

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  • Powell Hall expansion and renovation

    March 31, 2025

    Powell Hall’s stage floor has seen countless performances, premieres, and musicians. But the wood floor, which has been carefully maintained and sanded over many years, has reached the end of its useful life and can no longer be refinished.  Crews recently removed the wood flooring and sub floor in preparation for replacement. Once complete, the stage floor will be stained white oak as before, […]

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  • February 24, 2025

    Framing for the most prominent feature of Powell Hall’s new lobby space is now in place, bringing the Snøhetta-designed expansion one step closer to completion. The large, arched curtain wall—or non-structural glass exterior wall—will serve as the primary new entrance to the building, facing southwest toward Grand Blvd. and Samuel Shepherd Dr.  Soon, glass will be installed, […]

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  • February 13, 2025

    When patrons enter the new lobby of the expanded Powell Hall at the Jack C. Taylor Music Center, they’ll notice abundant natural light. Recently, work continued on an architectural feature that will allow sunlight to fill the space. A curtain wall—or non-structural exterior wall—has been installed facing east, featuring three stories of glass that opens […]

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  • January 30, 2025

    When audiences return to Powell Hall in September 2025, the auditorium will feature improved safety and code compliance. Throughout January, crews working on Powell Hall’s renovation installed guardrails at the front of the mezzanine and handrails along the balcony’s stairs, providing much needed stability and mobility assistance. The sleek, black supports will be finished with details that match […]

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  • January 23, 2025

    The SLSO’s dozens of percussion instruments will move out of any available nook and cranny and into organized new storage spaces with the renovation and expansion of Powell Hall. Recently, steel supports were installed in the dedicated Percussion Room located in the back of house expansion, part of a holistic plan to provide better storage for the SLSO’s many […]

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  • December 30, 2024

    The first of many millwork finishes have been installed in the Jack C. Taylor Music Center. New lockers have been added to musicians’ dressing rooms, bringing the backstage expansion of the project one step closer to completion. The new dressing rooms address a glaring inequity in Powell Hall—the lack of dressing spaces for women or […]

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  • December 20, 2024

    Construction crews at Powell Hall are busy working on a crucial element of the auditorium—the floors. After removing the seats and existing wood floor, the floor was reshaped. This included adding a cross-auditorium aisle on the floor level, modifying the slope of the floor to improve accessibility, and deepening the rows in the Boxes, Dress […]

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  • November 18, 2024

    With repainting in Powell Hall’s auditorium nearly complete, crews have begun to freshen up one of the building’s most iconic features: the grand foyer. Scaffolding has been erected to clean and repaint the space, whose design was inspired in part by the chapel at the Palace of Versailles. Crews will meticulously clean the gold leaf […]

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