Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music | |
---|---|
| |
Alternative names | Little Bridges |
General information | |
Type | Concert hall |
Architectural style | Spanish Renaissance [1] |
Address | 150 E. 4th St. |
Town or city | Claremont, California |
Country | United States |
Coordinates | 34°05′50″N 117°42′50″W / 34.09722°N 117.71389°W |
Named for | Mabel Shaw Bridges |
Opened | 1915 [1] |
Renovated | 1971
[1] 1999–2000 [2] |
Owner | Pomona College |
Height | 17.2 m (56 ft)[ citation needed] |
Technical details | |
Material | Stucco [3] |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Myron Hunt [4] |
Other information | |
Seating capacity | 550 [5] |
Public transit access | Claremont |
Website | |
pomona |
The Mabel Shaw Bridges Hall of Music, more commonly known as Little Bridges (to distinguish it from nearby Bridges Auditorium, known as Big Bridges), is a concert hall at Pomona College in Claremont, California, designed by Myron Hunt and opened in 1915. It was sponsored by a $100,000 gift (equivalent to $3.01 million in 2023) from the parents of Mabel Shaw Bridges, a student in Pomona's class of 1908 who died of illness her junior year. [6] It is used for a variety of musical and non-musical purposes, and is considered the "architectural gem" of Pomona's campus and one of Hunt's finest works. [7]
The hall was designed as the primary anchor point for the south side of Marston Quadrangle in Hunt's Master Plan for the Pomona campus. [3]
In its early history, it was the premier destination of choice for prominent visitors to Southern California. [8]
The hall was closed in 1969 following the discovery of structural defects, [9] and fears that it would be demolished prompted a successful fundraising campaign that enabled a renovation, including a seismic retrofitting, [3] beginning in 1971. [10] It was renovated again three decades later, reopening in fall 2000. [2]
Pomona's 2015 master plan identifies Little Bridges as one of five "architecturally distinguished buildings with historic stature", [11] and a 2015 environmental impact report from the college identifies it as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, [12] although as of 2020 [update] the college has not yet applied for it to be listed. John Neiuber, writing for the Claremont Courier in 2017, expressed surprise it is not listed. [13]
The building takes the form of a basilica, and is built in a modified Spanish Renaissance style, incorporating a number of influences. [1] [14]
It is split into two halves. The northern half contains the concert hall, featuring a heavy wood beam ceiling painted with coats of arms from the Medici family. [3] The seating was inspired in part by the British Houses of Parliament, [1] and was designed so that the hall would appear occupied even when filled only to a small portion of its capacity. [15]
The southern half contains a colonnade with Ionic columns surrounding Lebus Court, home to the college's art history department and The Spirit of Spanish Music, a bronze sculpture by Burt William Johnson. [15]
The hall's current pipe organ is the Hill Memorial Organ, named after Carrie Schitker Hill. [16] It was constructed by C. B. Fisk and installed in 2001 after a planning process that lasted over a decade, [17] and has 3519 pipes over 66 ranks, weighing 20 short tons (40,000 lb; 18,000 kg). [1] [16] [18] [19] Previously, the hall used pipe organs by M. P. Moller installed at construction and in 1939. [20]
Pomona uses Little Bridges for a variety of musical and non-musical events, including convocation, practices and performances by the Pomona College Orchestra, and guest speaker lectures. [5] The college also allows community and other outside groups to use the hall. [5] It hosts roughly 45 musical performances per year, most of which are free to all. [5]