One of the three commissions given to the new architectural firm of Eliel and Eero Saarinen after the long, lean years of the Depression, Kleinhans Music Hall ranks among the firm's finest work and indicates the growing influence of the younger Saarinen. Having done extensive design work in 1937 on Tanglewood in the Berkshires with Sergei Koussevitzky, the commission to do the Buffalo Hall was a coherent expression of Eliel's late work in which he integrated his principles of design and, at the same time, a demonstration of Eero's great design ability. The Music Hall was endowed by Edward L. Kleinhans, who owned a large clothing store on Lafayette Square in Buffalo. The Hall is dedicated to the memory of his wife, Mary Seaton Kleinhans, and his mother, Mary Livingston Kleinhans.