Barnum Hall—The continuing renovation of a Streamline Moderne theater

Abstract

Barnum Hall, built by the WPA in 1937 and located on the campus of Santa Monica High School, was the first Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. After 60 years it was closed for renovations. The building has historic significance, which placed some limitation on the renovation design as to what could be done. Balancing the interests of the various stakeholders—the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District, the City of Santa Monica Landmarks Commission, fund raisers, high school faculty, and community members, among others—impacted the design and construction process. The first phase included expanding and modernizing the stage house and surrounding support areas. Phase II of the work was concerned with mitigating the orchestra level rear wall reflections, modifying the balcony nose profile, adding an orchestra pit lift, the purchase of a custom acoustical orchestra shell, and improving creature comfort (air conditioning) and amenities (improving restrooms, creating a backstage area, and refurbishing 75% of the theater seats). A study of several sidewall shaping schemes were then analyzed to determine if the improvement in the level of envelopmental sound warranted the cost. Phase III will see the installation of a modern sound reinforcement system and refurbishing the last section seats.