Structural Engineer: TT-CBM
MEP Engineer: WMA
Theater Consultant: Schuler Shook
Acoustical Consultant: The Talaske Group
A/V Consultants: The Audio Systems Group
The Old Town School of Folk Music is dedicated to the instruction and presentation of music from around the globe. The school’s growing student population and performance space needs prompted its move in 1998 to a converted 1929 public library, that is now the country’s largest facility dedicated to folk music.
The new performance space is a semi-circular hall which formerly housed the library stacks. It now features a thrust stage encircled by a combination of a cabaret and bench seating on two levels. The setting is quite intimate, with no audience member farther than forty feet from the performers. Large sliding doors make the backstage wall disappear so that during the day the hall welcomes visitors and doubles as the school’s cafe. Two restored WPA murals help celebrate the work and music of the common heritage.
The Chicago Sun-Times describes the space as “maybe the best concert venue in town. The acoustics are perfect, The sightlines a dream.”