The Mansion at Strathmore

04 Jun The Mansion at Strathmore

Take the stairs or elevators to the 4th level and walk across the sky bridge to the Concert Hall. Located on the Bou Family Terrace, “Tetra Con Brio,” a monumental sculpture of cast bronze, steel, and polished concrete, stands 12 feet (3.7 m) tall and weighs 4,500 pounds. In 1998, the Montgomery County Council and the Maryland State Legislature approved matching capital support ($48 million each) for the Music Center at Strathmore.

The Education Center provides rehearsal space and practice rooms for the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestra, CityDance Ensemble, and the Levine School of Music. In March 2015, Strathmore opened an additional performance and event space – AMP by Strathmore within Pike & Rose, the new mixed-use development located about one mile north of the Music Center on Rockville Pike. The property features a 250-seat music venue offering live performances including jazz, rock, folk, indie, and more. The concert hall opened in 2005 and was built on the 11-acre site of the Strathmore Mansion, a 19th-century home which had been owned by Montgomery County since 1981.

1. On June 21, 1983, after major restoration of the facility, Strathmore opened its doors to the public.
2. Visitors can also explore our galleries and current exhibitions, indulge in Afternoon Tea, stroll through the sculpture gardens, and find a special something at the Shop at Strathmore.
3. The Music Center at Strathmore serves as the second home for the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO), providing top-notch acoustics for classical, pops, holiday and summer concerts.
4. Built in 1902, the Mansion at Strathmore is home to intimate artistic programs presented by Strathmore including our Music in the Mansion and Artist in Residence concert series.
5. The Neo-Georgian mansion has columned porticos, Palladian windows and a hilltop setting, It was designed by Appleton P. Clark, Jr., and constructed in 1902 as a summer home for Captain James F. Oyster, Mrs. James Oyster and their family.
6. Parking for events and exhibitions in the Mansion is free in the Mansion lot on a space available basis.

A Home for the Arts

A six-story, 64-foot (20 m) high glass wall in the Lockheed Martin Lobby features 402 panes of glass, and opens to the outdoor Trawick Terrace that overlooks the Strathmore campus. Parking at the Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro garage (off of Tuckerman Lane) is free for ticketed events in the Music Center’s Concert Hall. At the end of each event, the exit gates to the garage will be open for 30 minutes to exit the garage. Parking for events and exhibitions in the Mansion is free in the Mansion lot on a space available basis.

INVEST IN THE ARTS

After the design team was selected in 2001, work began under the direction of the county. In 1977, the Sisters of the Holy Cross sold the mansion to the American Speech and Hearing Association (ASHA) as a temporary headquarters. On June 21, 1983, after major restoration of the facility, Strathmore opened its doors to the public.

The house was renamed Strathmore Hall, after the newly established nonprofit, and the Mansion with its surrounding grounds were developed as Montgomery County’s first center for the arts. After extensive restoration, the Mansion at Strathmore opened its doors to the public on June 24, 1983. The concert hall was designed in the traditional “shoebox” form of many international concert halls. Above the stage, a mechanized canopy of 43 individually controlled acrylic panels can be adjusted to fine-tune sound for clarity and reverberation. Tunable sound-absorbing curtains behind the bronze grilling and banners in the ceiling can be deployed out of sight to dampen or enliven the sound. The complex is thus accessible for patrons coming from Washington, D.C., as well as the northern part of Montgomery County, Maryland via the Metro rail system.

The public-private partnership between Strathmore Hall Foundation, Inc. assumes the day-to-day management and artistic programming of the Music Center and Mansion. Hundreds of donors stepped forward to help build, equip and sustain the operation of the Music Center. Ownership and usage of the land is not well-known until 1823 when a toll road was built to connect Georgetown and Frederick. One of the road’s tollgates was near the intersection now known as Strathmore Avenue. As shown on an 1879 map, local landowner Frank Ball operated a stagecoach station and blacksmith shop on his farm at this location. Having constructed new schools and residences nearby, the sisters sold the Mansion and its remaining 30 acres to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) in 1977 for use as its temporary headquarters.

In 1996, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of former president John Gidwitz, expressed interest in creating a second home in Montgomery County, and joined Strathmore as a founding partner of the Music Center at Strathmore. The Music Center at Strathmore features an undulating roof that outlines the sloping form of the concert hall. Inspired by the rolling hills of the Strathmore grounds, the 190,000-square-foot (18,000 m2) building is nestled into an 11-acre (45,000 m2) park-like setting. The venue presents over 150 performances a year and over 75 arts and music education classes each week.

Location and Parking

This wing of the building also features a children’s music classroom, a small two-story rehearsal room and nine solo and small group practice spaces. More than 5,000 artists and 2 million visitors have attended exhibitions, concerts, teas, educational events and outdoor festivals since 1983. In 1996, the Mansion closed for a $3.2 million renovation that created the Gudelsky Gallery Suite, and a 4-story addition that houses the Lockheed Martin Conference Room, an expanded Shop at Strathmore, and new administrative offices. In addition to exterior improvements, the renovation saw the addition of a sculpture garden, which features pieces along a path winding through 11 acres of landscaped grounds.

Your generosity brings distinctive programming and renowned artists to Strathmore’s stages and galleries and ensures that everyone in our community can experience the joy and wonder of the arts. Today, the organization’s hallmark is the Music Center at Strathmore, with a 1,976-seat concert hall and education complex that debuted in 2005. Strathmore quickly established itself as an important new cultural resource—not just for Montgomery County, but for the entire Metro DC region. The Mansion was bustling with energy and many of Strathmore’s most enduring offerings—including intimate concerts in the Music Room, Afternoon Tea, visual arts exhibitions, and wedding venue—began during this time. Read on to trace the history of the Mansion at Strathmore, from its turn-of-the-century roots as a grand summer estate to Harbor House Review its transformation into a spirited arts center. The Mansion at Strathmore is home to intimate artistic programs presented by Strathmore.

The soothing sounds of local musicians fill the room as you enjoy Afternoon Tea in a cozy atmosphere. Our website works best with the latest version of the browsers below, unfortunately your browser is not supported. Strathmore is a premier art institution of the region, hosting more than two dozen exhibitions a year. The Music Center at Strathmore and the Strathmore Mansion are located at 5301 Tuckerman Lane in North Bethesda, Maryland, just off of the Capital Beltway and adjacent to the Grosvenor/Strathmore stop on the Washington, DC Metro’s Red Line.