With the renovation of Cornell's Bailey Hall on schedule for completion in August, the 94-year-old hall is well on its way to a grand new look -- and a brand new sound and feel. When the doors open, audiences will find new seating and heating, new electric and ventilation systems, a restored exterior and improved acoustics and lighting.

Visitors will enter Bailey via an attractive pedestrian plaza that will replace the deteriorating parking area now in front of Malott Hall. Preliminary designs for the $4.5 million plaza, a project sponsored by the office of Provost Biddy Martin, were approved by the board of trustees in January and are now part of the upcoming capital campaign. The plaza is being designed by the architecture firm of Michael Van Valkenburgh and Associates.

Although Bailey is a state building, Cornell and New York state are sharing the cost of the $17.3 million project. In a ceremony in September 2000, New York Gov. George E. Pataki presented a check to then-President Hunter Rawlings for the rehabilitation of Bailey. The state share of the project is $12.2 million. The additional $5.1 million came through a gift from George and the late Harriet Cornell, the Empire State Development Corp. and the university. The renovations were designed by Mitchell/Giurgola Architects of New York City.

In addition to the plaza, a plan for improving areas peripheral to Bailey Hall is under way. A perimeter study by Van Valkenburg's firm outlines existing parking and circulation problems and is the subject of ongoing scrutiny by staff of Cornell's facilities and transportation services.

An inside job

Bailey Hall was designed by Edward Green, a prominent architect in Buffalo and an 1878 Cornell graduate. Now a historic landmark, it is considered a fine example of early 20th century classical revival architecture, with its colonnaded portico and monumental stairs that lead to the main entrance.

The newly renovated hall's main level and balcony will provide seating for about 1,324 people. Audience members will find the upholstered seats luxurious compared with the hard, wood-paneled chairs of yore. The once-severe pitch of the main section also has been smoothed to a kinder, gentler and less slippery slope. The lobby elevator is now handicapped-accessible. Many new conveniences also have been added to the restrooms.

The Bailey ceiling has been painted a soft thistle blue, while the columns on the balcony level are a muted silver. The stage curtains will be a deep burgundy red.

Above the proscenium, an acoustic canopy resembling an enormous awning is about to be installed. The hall's sound quality will be greatly enhanced with the addition of acoustic paneling in the stage enclosure and throughout the balcony area.

A three-story addition has been built into the back of Bailey to accommodate mechanical systems as well as guests and performers. New green rooms have been added, and performers who exit stage left will no longer have to run downstairs and through the basement in order to enter from stage right. The addition connects the back building at the stage and balcony levels. Because the entire addition is a self-enclosed unit, the floors are not actually connected to the hall, preventing the hum of the heating, venting and air-conditioning system or the warm-up drills of a choral group from reaching the hall during a performance.

Most of the glass-paned doors along the loggia are now permanently closed. In the past, these doors provided the only means for a cooling cross-breeze in the summer. With the addition of air conditioning, the doors have become decorative windows. However, the hall's front doors will be returned to their former glory and when installed will stand more than 11 feet tall.