On your right is Zoellner Arts Center, Lehigh’s big, modern “let’s put on a show” machine... and it’s been doing exactly that since 1997. It exists largely because alumnus Robert Zoellner and his wife, Victoria, dropped a six million dollar gift to build it. Back then, that was serious money... roughly twelve million in today’s dollars.
Architect Charles Dagit designed the place to handle pretty much any kind of art you can throw at it. Baker Hall seats just over a thousand, with a classic proscenium stage for concerts, ceremonies, and lectures. Diamond Theater is tighter and more intense, with steep seating that makes every whisper feel close. There’s also a Black Box space, a two-story gallery, rehearsal rooms, studios... even scene and costume shops, where the magic gets built before you ever see it.
They’ve hosted everyone from the New York Philharmonic and Itzhak Perlman to Laurie Anderson and Queen Latifah. Range matters.
When you’re set, the National Museum of Industrial History is a 10-minute walk heading east.
