Severance Music Center
Art Deco home of the Cleveland Orchestra, whose Mandel Concert Hall opened in 1931.
Severance Music Center has been the home of the Cleveland Orchestra since 1931, when it opened as Severance Hall following a gift from the industrialist John L. Severance in memory of his wife Elisabeth. Walker and Weeks designed a restrained neoclassical exterior of Georgia marble facing the green of University Circle, then filled the interior with Art Deco and Egyptian Revival detail. The lotus-patterned ceiling of the main auditorium is said to echo the lace of Elisabeth Severance's wedding dress.
The auditorium, now named Mandel Concert Hall, seats about 1,800 and holds the Norton Memorial Organ of 1931. An onstage shell installed under George Szell in 1958 sharpened the sound for recording but muffled the room's warmth; a restoration completed in 2000 removed it and returned the original proscenium while adding new public spaces. The building was renamed Severance Music Center in 2021 to reflect its wider programme of recitals, chamber concerts and education work.
Highlights
- Art Deco Grand Foyer with silver and black marble detailing
- Mandel Concert Hall's lotus-motif ceiling of 1931
- Norton Memorial Organ, restored with the hall in 2000
- Home concerts of the Cleveland Orchestra from September to May
