About Us

History of Jones Hall

Jones Hall, the vision of businessman Jesse Holman Jones, was the first purpose-built performing arts facility in Houston, given to the City by the Houston Endowment as home to the Houston Symphony, Houston Ballet, Houston Grand Opera, and Society for the Performing Arts (now Performing Arts Houston). It is owned by the City of Houston and managed by the Houston First Corporation, with the Foundation for Jones Hall managing backstage operations. When it was dedicated, the Houston Chronicle called it “the biggest single day in the history of the performing arts in Houston.” 

Designed by then-Houston firm Caudill Rowlett Scott in the formalism style, the architecture was radically new in the 1960s and has received numerous awards over the years. Both modern and classical, with sheer walls of marble and eight-story columns, the hall won the national American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award one year after opening. It’s still the largest venue in the Theater District.

Jones Hall provided a seed for a thriving theater district, and over the years, it was joined by the Alley Theatre, Wortham Center, Hobby Center, Verizon Center, and Bayou Place. When the Opera and Ballet moved to the new Wortham Center in 1987, the Houston Symphony and Society for the Performing Arts (now named Performing Arts Houston) were granted resident status in Jones Hall. 

An estimated 20 million people have passed through the doors of Jones Hall since it was built, including millions of school children who arrive in school buses every school year, and it makes a substantial economic impact as part of the $1 billion generated by the arts sector in Houston every year.

Perhaps most important, Jones Hall is the first place many Houstonians experience professional performances on a large scale—whether through the Houston Symphony’s classical or popular music concerts, or through the visiting arts presented by Performing Arts Houston.