Emma Willard School
Alice Dodge Wallace Center for the Performing Arts

Founded in 1814, The Emma Willard School in Troy, New York is a national leader in education for young women. Its landmark campus balances Jacobean Revival and contemporary design within a landscape designed by the Olmsted Brothers. Annum’s Alice Dodge Wallace ’38 Center for the Performing Arts places dance, theater, music and community at the heart of the campus.

A circa 1910 chapel is repurposed as a multipurpose theater for both performances and daily community gatherings. Updated acoustics, an extendable stage, and new lighting and theater equipment provide students with a working setting for the School’s arts curriculum. Tiered benches and perimeter loges provide 485 comfortable and informal seats. Preservation of the building’s exterior includes full masonry restoration and reconditioning of 150 original leaded glass windows.

The theater is connected to a new below-grade arts wing under a green, occupiable roof that preserves cherished campus views. Set into the site grade and offering natural light through clearstory windows, the wing accommodates two dance studios, an orchestra rehearsal space, and a 100-seat studio theater. Together, the theater and arts wing reflect Emma Willard’s long commitment to the arts as common ground for its students.