Discover the Acoustic Wonders of Boston's Historic Symphony Hall

Construction of Boston’s Symphony Hall began on June 12, 1899, after the Boston Orchestra’s original home, the Old Boston Music Hall, was threatened by road and subway construction. The new hall was designed by architects McKim, Mead, and White, who collaborated with Wallace Clement Sabine, a young Harvard physics professor, to apply scientific principles to the hall’s acoustics, making it one of the first auditoriums to be designed with acoustical science in mind. The hall was completed 17 months later, at a cost of $771,000, (which is $25 million when adjusted for inflation) and was inaugurated on October 15, 1900. It is modeled after the second Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig, which was later destroyed in World War II. The building features a “shoebox” shape similar to other renowned concert venues like the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Musikverein in Vienna.

Symphony Hall’s design enhances its acoustics, with its long, narrow, and high rectangular shape, shallow side balconies, and a coffered ceiling. The walls slope inward to focus sound, and the building’s structure, made primarily of brick, steel, and plaster, provides a clear, lively sound. Conductor Herbert von Karajan once remarked that for much music, Symphony Hall is superior to the Musikverein because of its slightly lower reverberation time. The hall has retained many of its original features, including the leather seats from 1900 and Beethoven’s name inscribed above the stage—the only musician to be honored in this way due to disagreements among the original directors about other candidates.

In 2006, Symphony Hall underwent a significant restoration, replacing its original stage floor at a cost of $250,000. To preserve the hall’s acoustics, the new floor was constructed using the same materials and methods as the original, including tongue-in-groove hard maple boards, a wool underlayment, and hand-hammered steel nails. The hall seats 2,625 people during Symphony season and 2,371 during the Pops season, with 800 seats at tables on the main floor.