History

Pittsburgh in 1927 was at the peak of its industrial power. The steel mills of the Monongahela and Allegheny river valleys had made the city one of the wealthiest and most economically dynamic in the United States. The Loew’s Penn Theatre was a direct product of that wealth: the Loew’s theater chain brought to Pittsburgh the same spectacular movie palace format it had deployed in New York, Chicago, and other major cities, creating in the Penn a fantasy environment that combined Art Deco ornament, French Second Empire influences, and the elaborate luxury of the grand hotel lobby into a single intoxicating entertainment environment. The Penn held over 3,000 seats when it opened, offering Pittsburgh audiences access to the first-run films and live performances that were the cinema’s golden age.

The decline of the downtown cinema district through the 1950s and 1960s brought the Penn, like so many of its contemporaries, to the edge of demolition. The Howard Heinz Endowment — the Pittsburgh philanthropic foundation established by the family whose name became synonymous with the city’s industrial success — stepped in to save and transform it. The 1971 renovation reduced the seat count to a more intimate 2,676, rebuilt the stage and orchestra pit for symphonic performance, and restored and refinished the Art Deco interior. The result proved that the great movie palaces of the 1920s could be given a second life as performing arts venues, a model that was replicated in cities across the country.

Heinz Hall’s further renovation in 1995 expanded backstage facilities and improved technical infrastructure, ensuring that the Pittsburgh Symphony’s home matched the technical requirements of twenty-first-century concert presentation. The hall has since hosted virtually every major orchestra and soloist in the classical music world.