Hobby Center for the Performing Arts
theatre in Houston, Texas
The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a theater in Houston, Texas, United States. Opened to the public in 2002, the theater is located downtown on the edge of the Houston Theater District. Hobby Center features 60-foot-high (18 m) glass walls with views of Houston's skyscrapers, Tranquility Park and Houston City Hall. The Hobby Center is named for former Texas lieutenant governor and Houston businessman, William P. Hobby, Jr., whose family foundation donated the naming gift for the center. The center replaced the former Houston Music Hall and Sam Houston Coliseum.
Built by the general contractor Lyda Swinerton, it was designed by Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) and Morris Architects. RAMSA was inspired by legendary theater designers Herts & Tallant, who practiced in Manhattan during the early 20th century. The major building materials are limestone, brick, painted steel columns, glazed curtain wall, and standing seam metal roof. Two theaters in the center were constructed specifically for theatre and musical performances.
Sarofim Hall, a 2,650-seat theater acoustically designed for touring Broadway productions like Phantom Of The Opera, Les Misérables, Wicked, The Lion King, and Hamilton.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Hobby Center for the Performing Arts” is theatre in Houston, Texas. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Hobby, Center and Performing, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “theatre in Houston, Texas” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5874936. Authority coordinates are 29.762, -95.370. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2002.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Hobby Center for the Performing Arts”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Hobby Center for the Performing Arts primary sources, Hobby Center for the Performing Arts archive and Hobby research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Hobby Center for the Performing Arts”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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This entry incorporates text from “Hobby Center for the Performing Arts” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.