The Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, located at 1212 Cathedral Street in Baltimore, was completed in September 1982. The hall, with its sweeping curved walls, was designed by Pietro Belluschi as a home for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.

From its founding in 1916, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra performed in the Lyric Opera House, vying for performance dates and rehearsal time with opera productions, travelogues, debutante balls, and broadway shows. Sergiu Comissiona and Joseph Leavitt, the orchestra's executive director, raised the possibility of creating a home for the orchestra soon after Comissiona joined the orchestra as conductor in 1969. Comissiona was appalled at the specter of his musicians preparing for performances in a grim backstage area behind crates and instrument cases and rehearsing in school gymnasiums when they were denied access to the Lyric.

Joseph Meyerhoff, philanthropist, civic leader and president of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, organized the forces that would build the hall. Meyerhoff, the orchestra's principal benefactor, acquired the site for the building at Cathedral and Preston Streets, and engaged architect Pietro Belluschi. The hall was funded through Joseph Meyerhoff's donation to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and grants from the State of Maryland and the City of Baltimore. On November 10, 1978, City Comptroller Hyman Pressman and Maryland State Comptroller Louis Goldstein joined Meyerhoff, Commissiona and members of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for the groundbreaking ceremony. Immediately after the groundbreaking, the construction crew moved onto the site and began work on the orchestra's new home.

Bellushi and his firm, Jung/Brannen Associates of Boston, created a hall that provides unimpeded sight lines from every seat and superb acoustics. Unlike any other symphony hall in the world, the Meyerhoff has double cinderblock walls with elaborate soundproofing to acoustically isolate the performance space. Undulating interior plaster walls and a graceful array of wing-like balconies provide sound-reflective surfaces. The ceiling slopes from 62 feet at the high end to 44 feet above the stage. Convex curved discs called "clouds," hang over the stage and over the orchestra to form a sound diffusing surface at the ceiling. The 65' x 35' stage is fitted with a movable rear wall that can extend the stage to 65' x 47' to accommodate a full symphony orchestra and chorus. The hall seats 2,465. The building also houses a recital hall, meeting rooms, office space, and dressing rooms. Joseph Meyerhoff, who became president of the Baltimore Symphony in 1965, was the principal benefactor of the hall that bears his name.

After the ceremonial ribbon cutting, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, led by conductor Sergiu Comissiona, performed the world premiere of Morton Gould's "Housewarming," which was commissioned for the opening, Franck's "Symphonic Variations" with pianist Leon Fleisher, and "Ein Heldenleben" by Richard Strauss at the dedication of the hall on September 16, 1982. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra had, at last, a home of its own.

Note: Much of the information for this entry comes from original source material, including newspaper and microfilm, from the archives of The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University, the Maryland Historical Society, and the vertical files at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.