Kaufmann Center upgrades reconnect it to community and add cafe, meeting spaces
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The Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at the Kaufmann Center in the Hill District reopens to the public next Wednesday. A benefit concert with pianist and vocalist John Legend will be held March 18. Completed in 1928 and originally known as the Irene Kaufmann Auditorium, the building underwent a $6 million renovation. -
Center, right: The auditorium lobby was opened up and a glass vestibule added. -
The monumental steps of Kaufmann Center, removed in the 1970s were restored to connect the auditorium with Centre Avenue. -
This view of the auditorium is from the balcony, where the original wooden chairs were refinished and recovered. -
Looking out from the stage at the new Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium at the Kaufmann Center. -
Before undergoing renovation, the Irene Kaufmann Auditorium's steps did not extend down to Centre Avenue. -
This bronze relief, created in 1975 by the late African-American artist Selma Burke and titled "Together," will be reinstalled in an outdoor courtyard of the Kaufmann Center.
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When Kaufmann Center reopens next week, visitors will see the transformation of a Hill District landmark.
Completed in 1928 and located at 1835 Centre Ave., Irene Kaufmann Auditorium was designed by Edward Stotz with classical columns, a limestone exterior and a long stone staircase. A $6 million renovation of the building's 17,500 square feet, plus the construction of a 2,400-square-foot addition, began in December 2009.
Hill House Association, a nonprofit social service agency that owns it, will rededicate the building next Wednesday and invite the public inside to see it. The community day features a story jam in which people can recount their memories on video or submit them to a story box.
To purchase a ticket for the John Legend concert on March 18, call 412-392-4429. Tickets for the benefit concert are $300, $500 and $1,200. The concert will be simulcast for people who participate in Hill House Association programs at the Blakey Program Center on Wylie Avenue. Information: www.hillhouse.org.
On March 18, rhythm and blues vocalist John Legend, winner of nine Grammy Awards, performs with a seven-piece band in the auditorium. Before the concert, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and his wife, Kiya, a Hill House board member, will host a VIP reception.
The sparkling performance space will be rechristened the Elsie H. Hillman Auditorium. A co-founder of Hill House Association in 1964, Mrs. Hillman made a substantial gift toward the renovation.
Utkarsh Ghildyal, an architect with Renaissance 3 Architects on the South Side, said Mrs. Hillman "had a big say in selection of the finishes and fabrics."
First Published March 9, 2011 12:00 am
