Department of Music Facilities

The Department of Music occupies four buildings on the Danforth Campus: Blewett Hall, Tietjens Hall, the Music Classroom Building, and the Gaylord Music Library. While our classes take place in the Danforth Campus facilities, the applied music program is housed at the 560 Music Center, a short distance north of the Danforth Campus.

Blewett Hall, a large Tudor residence, contains administrative and faculty offices. Blewett House was purchased with the original bequest of Avis Blewett, which helped found the Department of Music in 1946.

Tietjens Hall features a number of soundproof practice modules, the Sachs Electronic Music Studio, and a large rehearsal hall. In 1997 the Music Classroom Building was erected behind Tietjens Hall; this building houses classrooms, faculty offices and an electronic piano lab.

The Gaylord Music Library, one of the finest music collections in the Midwest, houses more than 90,000 books, scores, and periodicals, over 28,000 recordings, some 4,700 microforms, and several special collections. The Music Library contains listening facilities as well as study and seminar space.

The 560 Music Center was built in 1930 as the Shaare Emeth Temple. This beautiful Art Deco building was home to the Saint Louis Conservatory and School for the Arts (CASA) from 1974-1994. Following the merger by the St. Louis Symphony and CASA in 1994, the building housed the St. Louis Symphony Community Music School. In September 2001, the Community Music School joined with Webster University. In October 2006, Washington University took possession of the facility. Our applied music teaching, rehearsals, and many of our performances take place at the 560 Music Center. The building contains three performance spaces that can accommodate solo recitals to full orchestra concerts: the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall seats 1,115, the Multi-Purpose Theatre up to 400, the Recital Hall 75.