Cheney Hall
Manchester, CT, US / CT
Location Description
Cheney Hall, an elegant Victorian structure, was designed by Hammat Billings of Boston in 1866 for Cheney Brothers Company, renowned silk industrialists. The Hall was built as a theatre and cultural community facility for Manchester. The architecture is that of the French Second Empire Style with medieval and renaissance characteristics. Architectural features include a Mansard roof, segmented and full circle windows, brick and brownstone arches, intricate corbelledcornices, carved oak and chestnut trim in arabesque patterns and an 1866 E. & G. G. Hook tracker organ built into the rear stage wall. Dedicated in 1867 by Horace Greeley, Cheney Hall opened its doors to local theatrical/musical events and gala parties and balls. Theatrical touring companies played at the Hall and there were lectures by prominent speakers of the day, including Presidents Grover Cleveland and William H. Taft; Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ward Beecher and Phillips Brooks (the composer of O Little Town of Bethelem). For over six decades the Hall served as a library, lecture and concert hall, theatre, armory (during the Spanish American War), banquet hall, hospital, school, church, and tea room. With social and political changes, the silk industry and the use of Cheney Hall declined. The Hall became a fabric salesroom in 1925 and finally closed its doors in 1976. In 1978 Cheney Hall was designated a National Historic Landmark Building by the U. S. Department of the Interior. Three years later it was donated to the Town of Manchester and subsequently leased by the Cheney Hall Foundation, a town agency, to The Little Theatre of Manchester, Inc. (LTM). In 1991 an extensive, award-winning restoration was completed. Cheney Hall is now LTM's theatrical residence and the Little Theatre manages the Hall as a facility for other cultural, business, civic and private functions.
Location Category
- AUDITORIUMS / THEATERS - [general]
- AUDITORIUMS / THEATERS - Arts Centers / Stages
- AUDITORIUMS / THEATERS - Concert Halls
Architecture Style
- 1800s / Civil War
- Other
