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Grand Center is where St. Louis keeps its stages. Within a few blocks of Grand Boulevard and Washington Avenue sit a Broadway house, the home of the St. Louis Symphony, a jazz listening room, a concert hall, and two art museums you can walk into for free.
A theater district that came back
In the early 1900s Midtown was a second downtown, and the strip along Grand drew vaudeville houses and movie palaces. The St. Louis Theatre opened in 1925 and the Fox in 1929. As residents moved to the suburbs the audience thinned, and the district declined. The turn came in 1968, when the St. Louis Symphony moved into the old St. Louis Theatre and made it Powell Hall.
The Fox was the next domino. It closed in 1978; in 1981 private investors bought it, and a restoration costing more than $3 million brought it back in about a year. It reopened on September 7, 1982, and other institutions followed: The Sheldon’s concert hall in 1986, the Pulitzer in 2001, the Contemporary Art Museum in 2003. Today the district’s own site counts more than 60 arts and cultural organizations.
The Fox and Powell Hall
The Fox Theatre, at 527 N. Grand, is the district’s anchor, a Siamese-Byzantine movie palace that now books touring Broadway productions. Even without a show ticket you can see the inside: the Fox runs a roughly 90-minute walking tour on Saturday mornings at 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. (the later one is skipped on days with a 1:00 p.m. show) for $16. Tickets must be bought online ahead of time, and sales close at 5 p.m. the Friday before. The Fox’s tour page has current details.
Powell Hall, at 718 N. Grand, spent two years closed for a $140 million renovation and expansion and reopened in September 2025. It now has 2,150 seats with more legroom, better acoustics, a multi-story lobby, and an outdoor plaza. The orchestra’s own site lists concerts and bookable tours.
Free art on Washington Avenue
Three buildings on the 3600 and 3700 blocks of Washington make a good afternoon. The Pulitzer Arts Foundation (3716 Washington) was designed by Tadao Ando, opened in 2001, and is “open and free to all”; its grounds include site-specific works by Richard Serra and Ellsworth Kelly. Next door at 3750, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis also states free admission, with no ticket required. And The Sheldon (3648 Washington) is a concert hall that keeps free art galleries open Wednesday through Friday afternoons and Saturday midday. Hours change, so check the Pulitzer, CAM and Sheldon pages before you go.
Jazz after dark
Jazz St. Louis began in August 1995 as Jazz at the Bistro. It now works from the Harold & Dorothy Steward Center for Jazz at 3536 Washington, which reopened in October 2014 after an $8 million campaign; its Ferring Jazz Bistro is described by the organization as one of the best listening rooms in the country. Wynton Marsalis, Diana Krall and Harry Connick Jr. are among the artists it lists. Jazz St. Louis posts the calendar.
Nearby stays
No Airbnb in Grand Center yet
VisitingSTL doesn’t feature a stay in Grand Center. The Central West End home is the closest of the three; that neighborhood’s eastern edge is Vandeventer Avenue, which puts it next to Midtown.
See Places to Stay →Quick answers
What is Grand Center?
An arts district in Midtown St. Louis, centered on Grand Boulevard and Washington Avenue. Its own site counts more than 60 arts and cultural organizations, 16 theaters, 17 museums and galleries, and 10 music venues.
What is free to visit in Grand Center?
The Pulitzer Arts Foundation and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis both state free admission, and The Sheldon's galleries are free during gallery hours. Check each venue's own page for current hours.
Can you tour the Fox Theatre?
Yes. The Fox offers a roughly 90-minute walking tour on Saturday mornings, at 10:00 and 10:30 a.m. ($16), with tickets bought online in advance. The later tour does not run on days with a 1:00 p.m. performance.
What happened to Powell Hall?
The former St. Louis Theatre, built in 1925, has been the St. Louis Symphony's home since 1968. It reopened in September 2025 after a two-year, $140 million renovation and expansion.
Pick a Saturday: the Fox tour in the morning, the free galleries after lunch, and a set at the Bistro that night.
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