Bailey Hall (Ithaca, New York)

Bailey Plaza, as seen from the steps of Bailey Hall. The inclined shape of the fountain is visible on the right.

As originally configured, Bailey seated 1,948; one wag described it as "acoustics by God, seats by Torquemada," referring to its wooden seats and severely raked floor.[1] In 2006, the building reopened after a major rehabilitation which brought it up to modern building codes and made it handicapped-accessible, albeit at the cost of several hundred seats of audience capacity.

The road and small parking lot immediately in front of Bailey were converted into a pedestrian plaza which was opened to the public in 2007. The flagstones of the plaza are hewn from bluestone, similar to the material used to construct the Stone Row on the Arts Quad. Some of the stones were thermally treated to alter their colors to achieve a cosmetic effect. The benches ringing the plaza extend to 30 feet in length, each having been hewn from a single Oregon Douglas fir. A fountain carved from local stone into a natural, sloping shape invoking Ithaca's gorges is featured on the southern edge of the plaza.[3]