Nestled in downtown Jersey City, New Jersey sits one of the tristate’s newest music venues; White Eagle Hall. While the stunning and newly renovated venue has been open since April of 2017, the building itself has been around since 1910. Yes… you read that correctly, the original building has been there since 1910! The building was even awarded a Preservation Award from the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy last year for its renovation and place in history within the local community.
While the renovations brought the building up to today’s standards (tech + soundproofing wise), it’s not only used just for concerts. The space is adaptable and can change to whatever is needed: music venue (both seated and standing), comedy, live theatre shows, dance, films, weddings, receptions, sweet 16’s, corporate events, fundraisers, meetings, private events and everything in between. The building not only houses the music venue but also shares its amazing space with two other tenants: Cellar 335 and Madame Claude Bis. Cellar 335 is located to the left of the main entrance of the venue and features small bites and drinks while Madame Claude Bis is the French bistro located around the back of the building. Both spots are perfect to grab a quick bite or drink before or after a show.
The restoration and transformation of the space itself and what it is today truly is absolutely beautiful. The 8,000 square foot space is flexible and can easily adapt to whatever type of show is going on, from an 800 standing room only show to a 400 seated show in no time. While the main floor itself is primarily GA most of the time, upstairs you’ll find a wrap around balcony that features seating on a first-come-first-serve basis. For a more detailed look, check out the floor plans (courtesy of White Eagle Hall’s website):
As you’ll see above, the venue features three bar/food areas: one on the left & right side of the ground level as well as a third located upstairs right off of the balcony behind the soundboard area. Downstairs the bathrooms are looted to the left & right of the doors into the main hall space, while upstairs you can find the bathrooms right by the bar (located behind the sound booth).
As mentioned on White Eagle Hall’s website, the venue has “been outfitted with the latest sound technology, creating a nearly echo-free atmosphere with enhanced aural clarity. Features include: sound isolation springs in floors and walls; custom-fabricated sound diffusion and absorption panels on ceilings; sound isolations springs on the Roof Top HVAC unit, eliminating the noise from air conditioning or heating; the stage’s sound panel has its own discreet ground, silencing unwanted hums.” It may not seem like a big deal, but an improperly isolated venue space can make or break a show with unwanted sounds disrupting the clarity of the band who is playing. For louder acts, it may not be as noticeable, but for quieter acts, it is something that can easily be heard and a major distraction. Also included in the upgrade of the space was a state of the art house lighting system that is LED-based allowing the venue to shift colors of the house lights to whatever they want (which comes in handy knowing how flexible the space can be from concert venue to corporate event).
Before the modern amenities of the current venue space, the building was managed by the local parish and the space was used for church-related and local community activities. At one point, a basketball court was installed and used by the locals and ended up being the practice space for the St. Anthony Friars, the basketball team of St. Anthony High School (which was located across town). When the space went into disarray, the basketball court remained intact which ended up playing an integral part of the renovation. During the construction of the balcony upstairs, they were able to utilize the floor from the basketball court and repurpose it as the floors upstairs. It doesn’t stop there though, as they even used those floors for the bartops. Talk about some amazing up-cycling.
The history doesn’t stop there as also during the renovation process, two absolutely stunning hand-crafted stain-glass skylights were found embedded into the ceilings and they were completely intact. While completely intact, they were in serious need of some TLC so they were carefully removed for cleaning and then carefully re-installed into the ceilings in their original places. While stunning from the ground, you can really appreciate the craftsmanship and artistry by going up to the balcony and getting a closer look.
We want to send a huge shoutout to the team at White Eagle Hall for inviting us out and letting us explore the venue as it was an absolute honor getting to photograph the space. For those of you who don’t know where the venue is, it’s located almost in the middle between Hoboken and Liberty Science Center (337 Newark Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07302):
We’ve already caught a handful of shows at the space (Twin Peaks, Julien Baker, and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) and while they’ve all been vastly different, they’ve all been some of our favorite shows we’ve seen lately. New shows keep getting added to their upcoming calendar all the time, so be sure to keep a close eye on who’s stopping by here. We’re very excited to be seeing more shows at the apace in the future so all we ask is… will we see you there?
For more photos, see the full gallery below:
First floor:
Nestled above the entry/exit on the balcony is the soundboard (with seating to the left, right, and behind)
Balcony (2nd level):
Madame Claude Bis (located behind the venue):
Cellar 335 (located to the left of the main venue entrance):
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