Ordway Center for the Performing Arts

Ordway Center for
the Performing Arts

Ordway Music Theater (1985–2000)
Address	345 Washington Street St. Paul, Minnesota United States
Coordinates	44°56′41″N 93°05′54″W
Capacity	Music Theater: 1,900 Concert Hall: 1,093
Construction
Opened	January 1, 1985
Architect	Benjamin C. Thompson
Website
www.ordway.org

The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, in downtown Saint Paul, Minnesota, hosts a variety of performing arts, such as touring Broadway musicals, orchestra, opera, and cultural performers, and produces local musicals. It is home to several local arts organizations, including the Minnesota Opera, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and The Schubert Club. The president and CEO, Christopher Harrington, has served since November 2021, and Producing Artistic Director Rod Kaats has been with the Ordway since February 2018.

History

In 1980, Saint Paul resident Sally Ordway Irvine (a 3M heiress and arts patron) dreamed of a European-style concert hall offering "everything from opera to the Russian circus". She contributed $7.5 million—a sum matched by other members of the Ordway family—toward the facility's cost. Fifteen Twin Cities corporations and foundations were the principal funders of the $46 million complex, the most expensive privately funded arts facility ever built in the state. Saint Paul native Benjamin Thompson, whose other projects included the Faneuil Hall renovation in Boston and South Street Seaport in New York, was selected to design a building that would project "a visible contemporary image" but also harmoniously fit on a site facing Rice Park, a block-square park framed by historic buildings. As designed by Thompson, Ordway Center (originally named Ordway Music Theatre) contained a 1,900-seat Music Theater; an intimate McKnight Theatre (306 seats); two large rehearsal rooms; and the Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious two-story lobby with a glass curtain-wall through which theatergoers enjoy a sweeping panorama of Rice Park, its surrounding buildings, and, in the distance, the Mississippi River. The McKnight Theatre was demolished in 2013 to make room for the new 1,093-seat Concert Hall, which opened on February 28, 2015.

The Ordway Center opened to the public on January 1, 1985, as Ordway Music Theatre. The name was changed in 2000 to reflect the array of performing arts that take place under its roof.

Ordway Center for the Performing Arts serves 400,000 people annually with nearly 500 performances in musical theater, children's theater, world music and dance, orchestra, opera, and recitals.

About the building

Ordway Center contains the 1,910-seat Music Theater, the 1,100-seat Concert Hall, two large rehearsal halls, and lobbies on each floor, including the second-floor Marzitelli Foyer, a spacious, two-story lobby encircled by a glass facade.

Architect	Benjamin Thompson and Associates
Contractor	McGough Construction
Building Area	160,000 square feet (15,000 m2)
Site Area	90,000 square feet (8,400 m2)
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area	38,000 square feet (3,500 m2)
Back of House Area	22,000 square feet (2,000 m2)
Rehearsal Room Area	4,800 square feet (450 m2)

Interior

Woodwork (public areas)	Honduran mahogany
Original Carpet	Designed by Benjamin Thompson and Associates. 6,000 square yards, manufactured by Mohawk Mills, Greenville, Mississippi
Lobby Tile	Imported from Wales, United Kingdom
Chandeliers	Twelve total: handcrafted chimneys from West Virginia; brass bases from Winona Studio Lighting, Winona, Minnesota
Lobby & Grand Foyer Area	38,000 square feet (3,500 m2)

Exterior

Main Façade	Copper-clad exterior window and fascia system, with more than 500 insulated glass panels.
Brickwork	Handmade brick by Kane Gonic Brickworks of Gonic, New Hampshire. Each brick has variation in color and texture for a rich, handcrafted texture.
Brick pattern	Flemish bond. Pattern: Two “stretchers” laid lengthwise, one “header” laid crosswise.

External links

• Ordway Center for the Performing Arts