Buildings of New England

Tucked into the heart of Wharf Village in the ever-charming coastal community of Marion, Massachusetts, the Marion Music Hall has been a cornerstone of small-town cultural life since 1891. The Music Hall was largely the vision and will of the town’s great benefactor, Ms. Elizabeth Taber who sought to use her late husband’s vast fortune to benefit her community in her later years. In her will, Ms. Taber left funds for a proper “lecture and music hall” and the $23,000 commission went to her friend, architect, William Gibbons Preston. The building is one of a few examples of brick construction in the village and stands out for its detail with the round arched windows and solid massing in the Romanesque Revival style with terracotta trim to add visual interest in the design. The result is a structure both stately and welcoming, with its handsome façade anchoring a lawn that would later be adorned by the cast-iron Soldiers Monument in 1894. More than 130 years on, the Hall still hosts the town’s committee meetings, concerts, weddings, and community gatherings, standing as a living piece of Marion’s Gilded Age generosity and a quiet architectural gem of the South Coast of Massachusetts.