Marion Oliver McCaw Hall

Marion Oliver McCaw Hall at Seattle Center is the region’s new premier performance hall. Opened in June 2003, McCaw Hall includes a state-of-the-art 2,900-seat auditorium, a 400-seat Lecture Hall, a café, a luminous five-story serpentine glass Grand Lobby, and a 17,800-square-foot public plaza (the Kreielsheimer Promenade) that serves as an entry into McCaw Hall and the Seattle Center Campus. McCaw Hall is the home to Pacific Northwest Ballet, Seattle Opera, community festivals and guest performers from around the world, plus weddings, conventions, receptions, meetings and more!
Marion Oliver McCaw Hall sits on a remarkable foundation.

Her story begins in 1881 with the last will and testament of saloonkeeper James Osborne, who left $20,000 to the City of Seattle to build a civic auditorium. The private gift was to be matched by public funding in order to build the auditorium, however in 1881 the City’s total operating budget was $20,000. In 1886, David T. and Louisa Denny donated the land in order to help the City build the hall.

Then came the great Seattle fire in 1889, the Gold Rush and WWI – placing plans on hold until the time was right.

In 1927, the time was right and Seattle voters approved a $900,000 bond measure to match the private gifts and build our city’s first Civic Auditorium. Dedicated by Seattle’s only female Mayor, Bertha K. Landes, the vision was the same yesterday as it is today.

“To bring us many cultural advantages and make it possible … for high and low, rich and poor to gather here to nourish their souls with the wonder of pageantry.” Bertha K. Landes, 1927

For the 1962 World’s Fair, a $3 million public-private renovation changed the 6,000 seat flat-floor auditorium into an opera house with two balconies, rakedracked orchestra seating and updated lobby spaces. However, the technical, mechanical and backstage areas remained unchanged from 1927 through 2001.

Today, we celebrate the success of the third public-private partnership – remaining true to the philanthropic vision of James Osborne back in the 1880s and upholding our own values of supporting the arts and creating a community-gathering place for all.