Overview of Usher Hall

Located on Lothian Road in west-central Edinburgh is the Usher Hall, which remains the city's principal concert venue. The gift of brewer and distiller Andrew Usher (1826-98), who gave £100,000 for its construction in 1896, the baroque Usher Hall was built by J. Stockdale Harrison of Leicester. The foundation stone was laid by King George V and Queen Mary in 1911 and the hall opened in 1914. On a triangular site between Gindlay Street and Cambridge Street, the building is round, with an ashlar frontage and low copper domed roof. The front is decorated with sculptures by Birnie Rhind, Crosland McLure and H.S. Gamley.

Today the hall is managed by the City of Edinburgh Council and holds 2900 of an audience. The auditorium has superb acoustics and is one of the main venues used by the Edinburgh International Festival. Over the years it has hosted many notable performers, such as Tony Bennett, Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Elton John and Diana Ross. It has attracted some of the world's top orchestras and is the Edinburgh base of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. The hall was the venue for the 1972 Eurovision Song Contest hosted by Moira Shearer (1926 - 2006).

An extensive £9 million refurbishment in 2000 has introduced modern services and removable seating in the stalls. The following year the hall was the venue for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland because the Scottish Parliament was temporarily resident in the Church's Assembly Hall.

The splendid organ was installed prior to the opening of the hall, constructed by Norman & Beard of London with a fine locally-built Spanish mahogany case. A three-year restoration was completed in 2003 in time for an inaugural recital by Dame Gillian Weir.

Immediately behind, on Grindlay Street, is the Royal Lyceum Theatre and also behind, on Cambridge Street, is the Traverse Theatre. In front of the hall on Lothian Road is The Bell Tower, an unusual chiming clock gifted by the distiller Arthur Bell.