Cleveland’s Allen Theatre opened in 1921 as a 3,080-seat movie house. It was spared from the wrecking ball in the 1970s. In the late 1990s it underwent a renovation that reduced the number of seats to 2,500, and it reopened in 1998 as a venue for live theatre. By 2010, it was marginally utilized, a victim of changes in the entertainment industry and the national economic downturn.
The reconstruction of the Allen Theatre was made possible by a unique collaboration among three organizations: the Cleveland Play House and Cleveland State University, each of which needed to build new performance facilities; and Cleveland’s PlayhouseSquare, the second-largest theatre district in the country (after New York’s Lincoln Center) and the largest total historic theatre district in history, with 10 renovated, reconstructed, and new insertion venues.
PROJECT SUMMARY
ALLEN THEATRE AT PLAYHOUSESQUARE
Cleveland, OhioBuilding Team
Submitting Firm: Westlake Reed Leskosky (architect, engineer)
Acoustician: Talaske and Associates
Construction manager: Turner Construction Co.General Information
Size: 81,500 sf (renovation), 44,000 sf (addition)
Construction cost: $30 million
Construction time: August 2010 to December 2011(Phase I) and January 2012 (Phase II)
Delivery method: CM with GMP
All three entities were clients of local architecture firm Westlake Reed Leskosky, which brought them together to fulfill their professional and educational agendas. WRL provided all architectural and engineering services, with Talaske and Associates as acoustician and Turner Construction Company as construction manager.
The $30 million project resulted in three new theatres in the existing 81,500-sf space and a 44,000-sf contiguous addition: the Allen Theatre, the Second Stage, and the Helen Rosenfeld Lewis Bialosky Lab Theatre.
The Allen Theatre was transformed into a 512-seat proscenium stage theatre. The space was downsized to improve acoustics and allow for vocal clarity without the need for amplification. New sidewalls featuring scrims of perforated metal were constructed, designed to reflect sound to patrons in and under the balcony. The area under the balcony was redeveloped into a lounge and pre-show events space.
The Second Stage is a transitional space that flexibly seats up to 348 and is equipped with seating wagons that can transform the stage area into multiple configurations. The Helen is a 150-seat black-box theatre for smaller performances and educational programs.
All three theatres were up and running by this past January. With the addition of these new venues, PlayhouseSquare expects at least 150,000 additional guests to patronize the renovated theatre district each year. +
Related Stories
Giants 400 | Oct 30, 2023
Top 170 K-12 School Architecture Firms for 2023
PBK Architects, Huckabee, DLR Group, VLK Architects, and Stantec top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school building architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 30, 2023
Top 100 K-12 School Construction Firms for 2023
CORE Construction, Gilbane, Balfour Beatty, Skanska USA, and Adolfson & Peterson top BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school building contractors and construction management (CM) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
Giants 400 | Oct 30, 2023
Top 80 K-12 School Engineering Firms for 2023
AECOM, CMTA, Jacobs, WSP, and IMEG head BD+C's ranking of the nation's largest K-12 school building engineering and engineering/architecture (EA) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report.
MFPRO+ Special Reports | Oct 27, 2023
Download the 2023 Multifamily Annual Report
Welcome to Building Design+Construction and Multifamily Pro+’s first Multifamily Annual Report. This 76-page special report is our first-ever “state of the state” update on the $110 billion multifamily housing construction sector.
Giants 400 | Oct 23, 2023
Top 190 Multifamily Architecture Firms for 2023
Humphreys and Partners, Gensler, Solomon Cordwell Buenz, Niles Bolton Associates, and AO top the ranking of the nation's largest multifamily housing sector architecture and architecture/engineering (AE) firms for 2023, as reported in Building Design+Construction's 2023 Giants 400 Report. Note: This ranking factors revenue for all multifamily buildings work, including apartments, condominiums, student housing facilities, and senior living facilities.
Affordable Housing | Oct 20, 2023
Cracking the code of affordable housing
Perkins Eastman's affordable housing projects show how designers can help to advance the conversation of affordable housing.
Senior Living Design | Oct 19, 2023
Senior living construction poised for steady recovery
Senior housing demand, as measured by the change in occupied units, continued to outpace new supply in the third quarter, according to NIC MAP Vision. It was the ninth consecutive quarter of growth with a net absorption gain. On the supply side, construction starts continued to be limited compared with pre-pandemic levels.
Warehouses | Oct 19, 2023
JLL report outlines 'tremendous potential' for multi-story warehouses
A new category of buildings, multi-story warehouses, is beginning to take hold in the U.S. and their potential is strong. A handful of such facilities, also called “urban logistics buildings” have been built over the past five years, notes a new report by JLL.
Building Materials | Oct 19, 2023
New white papers offer best choices in drywall, flooring, and insulation for embodied carbon and health impacts
“Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Insulation” and “Embodied Carbon and Material Health in Gypsum Drywall and Flooring,” by architecture and design firm Perkins&Will in partnership with the Healthy Building Network, advise on how to select the best low-carbon products with the least impact on human health.
Contractors | Oct 19, 2023
Crane Index indicates slowing private-sector construction
Private-sector construction in major North American cities is slowing, according to the latest RLB Crane Index. The number of tower cranes in use declined 10% since the first quarter of 2023. The index, compiled by consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB), found that only two of 14 cities—Boston and Toronto—saw increased crane counts.
