The shoebox hall’s shape and Victorian ornament together created superior acoustics

Evidence

The traditional concert hall is called a shoebox hall because of its shape, as shown in Figure 6.25, and this naturally provides a large number of lateral reflections to the audience. This shape, combined with the Victorian penchant for florid plaster decoration, resulted in some excellent-sounding spaces. — David M. Howard, Jamie Angus, Acoustics and Psychoacoustics, 1928

Categorization

• CANDY: Delightful: the best-sounding halls owe much of their greatness to the Victorians’ taste for gaudy plaster.
• SEED: Article idea on how unintended decorative choices produced some of the world’s most beloved acoustic spaces.