Sponsored by the UCLA Emeriti/Retirees Relations Center
**Tour requires moderate walking
Group will meet under the front middle arch
A symbol of both intellectual and artistic excellence, Royce Hall functions not only as a monument to Los Angeles’ rich cultural past, but also as a portal to the future.
The extraordinary history of performing arts presentation in Royce Hall is rooted in the late 1930s, when George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Arnold Schoenberg and Jimmy Dorsey’s Band all performed in Royce Hall.
Modeled after Milan’s Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio, constructed in the tenth and eleventh centuries, Royce Hall was built in 1929 as one of the first campus structures by architect David Allison.
Royce Hall’s reputation was forged early in the campus’ history. By 1936, the campus had been open for only seven years and was cradled in the midst of an old sheep pasture in an area that most residents probably still regarded as “country.” This would then seem like an unlikely place to stumble across one of the greatest American popular composers of all time – George Gershwin, who appeared at Royce Hall on September 28 of that year.
In 1936, University of California President Robert Gordon Sproul appointed a committee to oversee programming and in 1937, Royce Hall’s first performing arts season was born. The first subscription series included the great contralto Marian Anderson, the Budapest String Quartet and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
