Sanders Theater

Sanders Theatre is the performance hall inside Harvard University’s Memorial Hall in Cambridge, used for concerts, lectures, university ceremonies and community events. The theater was funded in part by a bequest from Charles Sanders, a member of the class of 1802 and a former college steward, who left $40,000 for a hall to be used on Commencement days, Class days and other public occasions connected with the college.

Memorial Hall began after the Civil War as a tribute to Harvard men who served in the Union Army and Navy. Alumni raised $370,000 between 1865 and 1868, and the project was joined with the Sanders bequest so each made the other feasible. The design by William Robert Ware and Henry Van Brunt, both Harvard alumni, won an anonymous competition, and the cornerstone was laid in 1870.

What to Know

• The building stands on the triangular site once known as the Delta, bounded by Cambridge, Kirkland and Quincy streets.
• Memorial Hall houses stained glass windows, sculptures and paintings that visitors can view.
• Memorial Hall and Lowell Lecture Hall also host classes, student group rehearsals and professional events.
• President Charles Eliot called Memorial Hall the most valuable gift the university had ever received.