Hamer Hall

This guide to Hamer Hall in Melbourne traces a flaw built into the room when architect Roy Grounds opened it in 1982 as the Melbourne Concert Hall, a dead spot in the dress circle where sound simply vanished for thirty years. It follows Grounds' underground, cave-like design alongside his National Gallery of Victoria next door, and the 2004 renaming after premier Rupert Hamer, whose name stayed on a room still failing its own musicians. Try the back of the dress circle and listen for what that seat used to miss.