Ganz Hall, Roosevelt University

Kind of a hidden gem! I agree with Brandon B, you wouldn’t expect it. Part of Roosevelt University, it has a large, lovely, old-​style music hall. I went as part of a Shakespeare competition and it was a great venue for speeches.
The lighting comes from some pretty, old chandeliers and the wooden platform and floor and inviting. Great venue for recitals, I’m sure, because I could also see it housed a baby grand and what appeared to be a harpsichord.

A surprisingly nice venue for concerts, hidden in the high floors of the Roosevelt/​Auditorium building, a side pocket off of what otherwise seems like a drab old academic hallway. The larger foyer is dark and moody with dark rich wood paneling, leading into the main hallway with its unique space-​age-​looking lamps and detailed stained glass windows. According to online sources this was originally designed as a banquet hall for the Auditorium theater but fell into disrepair for many years before complete restoration was finished in the early 2000’s, with conversion to a concert hall. The original builders included Sullivan and Wright. A hidden architectural gem as well as an amazing concert space for more intimate chamber music performances.

Ganz Hall is a beautiful venue for both playing or attending concerts and shows. In the late afternoon, sun streams through the stained glass windows and sets a golden glow throughout the hall. I spent a lot of time during graduate school in the audience and on the stage of this hall, and its certainly one of the most ornate and architecturally significant recital halls that I’ve played in. Especially for a University space. When the auditorium building was still a hotel, Ganz was a dining hall. Like many other aspects of the building, most of the original architecture has been preserved. Access via elevators on Michigan or Wabash entrances to Roosevelt. After getting off on 7^th floor, follow signs.

The lobby for this part of Roosevelt University sits on the busy corner of Michigan Avenue and Congress Parkway. An elevator takes you to the 7^th floor and after a maze of hallways, you arrive where history, music, and architectural excellence converge. Rudolph Ganz Memorial Hall is a treasure of Chicago and not yet that well-​known.
I was there to attend the season closing concert for Contempo (Contemporary Chamber Players), which is a collective for modern music with eighth blackbird and Pacifica Quartet as their Artists-​in-​residence. The combined groups were assembled along with additional players to form three different orchestras. They would be playing the final thesis of three doctoral candidates in music composition from the University of Chicago: The first was for soprano and orchestra, incorporating an electronic accompaniment, the second was a brief chamber opera for tenor, baritone, and orchestra, and the final was a study of romantic emotions drawn from 19^th and 20^th century poems with the orchestra plus soprano and tenor.
The Hall was created in the time of the giants of American architecture and three of those giants, Louis Sullivan, Dankmar Adler, and Frank Lloyd Wright had a hand in conceiving and actualizing this hall and the building it sits in. It was probably lovely in its day, but since it was designed for another purpose than it is used for now, many changes were made in the years since then. What you see today is the best approximation that research and concerned renovation can accomplish. Read more about the transformations since 1956 at the link above and at
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Take any opportunity you can to view this space. If it coincides with a musical performance, you will also experience the fine acoustics of what used to be a hotel dining hall, but now a fabulous place for music. Fittingly, you will be atop another great performance space, the Auditorium Theatre.