Royce Hall

The Royce Hall is the oldest building of the University of California Los Angeles ( UCLA). It was built in 1926-1929 and is one of the first four buildings on the Westwood campus of UCLA. Today it is the most famous building and represents the UCLA. The Royce Hall has two bell towers ringing the bells every hour.

History

James Edward Allison and his brother David Clark Allison designed the Royce Hall in the early 1920s. The construction of the Royce Hall was completed in 1929. At this time, the UCLA consisted of four buildings: The Royce Hall, Powell Library, the building of the Humanities and the Haines Hall. Now Royce Hall is the most famous building. Royce Hall was named in honor of Josiah Royce.

In the concert hall of the Royce Hall played in 1930, Duke Ellington, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and the Philharmonic Orchestra of New York.

In January 1994, the Northridge earthquake in Southern California occurred. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale and damaged the building. The renovation of the Royce Hall cost $ 70.6 million. The renovation began in March 1994 and ended in December 1997. Now the concert hall has a size of 17795.3 square meters.

Architecture

Royce Hall was built in the Romanesque Revival style. The architects received their inspiration for the building of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan. In the center of Royce Hall is a large concert hall in which nearly 2,000 people can find space. Seminar rooms, a reading room and numerous offices enclose this concert hall. In the basement there is, among other things, a further sample stage.

Use

The group " UCLA Live" is responsible to engage performers from different cultures. It occurs artists, composers, writers and essayists. The audience sits relatively close to the stage. The students can visit the UCLA performances for a special price.

Because of the good acoustics of the auditorium Royce Hall has also been used for recordings of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. In numerous film and television productions Royce Hall is used as a background, such as in an episode of Simon & Simon.