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Overview

Prolific Los Angeles architect Welton D. Becket (1903-1969) designed this Modern brick building for the Music Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Constructed in 1954-1955, it was named for Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951), a composer renowned for his Modern "twelve-tone technique."

Building History

The Regents of the University of California named the UCLA Music Building "Arnold Schoenberg Hall" at a meeting on 01/21/1955. Composer Arnold Schoenberg served on the UCLA Faculty from 1936-1944. The Regents' letter to Schoenberg wife, Gertrud, stated: "'We on the Los Angeles campus are particularly happy to have this opportunity to memorialize Mr. Schoenberg's great contribution to the Department of Music in which he served, and the international distinction he brought to the University. We are certain this pride and pleasure will be shared by the many students who worked under his inspirational leadership, and by his friends all over the world.' Later, in 1962, the University extended the Schoenberg name to include the entire music building. At the September 20, 1962 meeting of the Board of Regents Committee on Grounds & Buildings it was recommended: "That the name of the music auditorium, Arnold Schoenberg Hall, be extended to include the entire Music Building on the Los Angeles campus." (See Lawrence A. Schoenberg, Google Groups.com, "Schoenberg Hall UCLA name change ????" published 10/13/2000, accessed 06/22/2018.) Lawrence Schoenberg disagreed with the UCLA administration's decision to remove Schoenberg's name from the auditorium in favor of new donors Mo and Evelyn Ostin in 2000. Due to the administrators' error in removing the Schoenberg name from the auditorium, two other buildings, comprising the "Ostin Music Center," (completed in summer 2014), were named for the couple.

Building Notes

The Architectural Forum announced the design of the UCLA Music Building in 01/1954. It wrote: "Music Building for the University of California Los Angeles campus is one of the first contemporary designs approved by the Regents, whose taste in architecture usually runs to a hybrid neo-classic style that made modernist California architects squirm. It will be built of reinforced masonry and concrete with several two-story glass wall sections. Its red brick will harmonize with other campus buildings. Bids for the 70,000 sq. ft. structure will be opened next month. Estimated cost: $1.9 million. Architect: Welton Beckett [sic] & Associates. Besides a music library and a hall seating 522 persons, it will include 66 practice rooms, 12 classrooms, 10 small and one large study-listening rooms, 4 organ practice rooms, a recording studio, opera practice room seating 160 persons and band and chorus rehearsal rooms. Occupancy is scheduled in Sept., 1955." (See "News," Architectural Forum, vol. 100, no. 1, 01/1954, p. 45.)

PCAD id: 22144