Tommy Washbush
A view from the stage inside Atwood Music Hall.
Among other renovations at the Atwood Music Hall, the stage is being extended six inches.
The hustle and hum of construction workers now fills the barren auditorium at 1925 Winnebago St. that will soon become Madison’s newest large music venue. After first seeing the inside in 2020, Toffer Christensen bought the building in September 2023. Renovation financing was finalized this fall.
Now that work is at last underway, the Atwood Music Hall is scheduled to open in June.
The structure was first used as an independent evangelical church that opened in 1932; as many as 700 worshippers filled the pews. The Madison Gospel Tabernacle relocated its congregation there in the late 1960s. Then a string of nonprofits inhabited the building until 2018. Freedom School, part of the non-violence mission of the Freedom House movement, was one; Operation Fresh Start, an employment empowerment agency, occupied the building most recently. In fact, current construction crew workers are participants in the Operation Fresh Start training program.
Updates include expanding the balcony at the back of the hall. The new balcony will hold “some of the best seats in the house” according to Christensen. Up front, the stage will be extended six inches.
To evaluate the need for soundproofing, a sound system was brought in and music cranked to the decibel levels of future live performances. Readings were taken and plans were drawn up to prevent noise from disturbing surrounding residents. Mitigation will include bricking up windows and sealing the roof.
Contractor Jake DeHaven says refurbishing the space has been almost like being on the site of an archeological dig as the building shows what it has to offer and what it wants to be. A lot of what it wants to be is what it was to begin with. “I don’t think any of us have been around a building quite like this,” says DeHaven, who began his career renovating old buildings that belonged to his father. For the Atwood Music Hall, DeHaven is after a “moody” feel that echoes the warm, brown sugary lighting as well as showcasing the cathedral ceiling, which is truly the star of the show.
Space to the left of the hall’s front sidewalk entrance will become a new micro lounge open every night — regardless of events inside the hall itself.
Christensen, who also owns the nearby Bur Oak, says the music hall will be like a “big brother” to that venue. The hall’s larger space means it’s harder to fill, and therefore it will host fewer shows than the Bur Oak. But that opens up more opportunities for the community to use the space.
The Atwood Music Hall will partner with the Goodman Community Center’s Loft program to bring high school students in to teach them how a venue is run, much in the way Operation Fresh Start teaches construction trade skills.
“If you’re a community nonprofit, you can go onto our website and fill out a form,” Christensen says. “We’re going to open the room up a certain number of nights a year to help [fulfill] their vision or do a fundraiser.”
Tommy Washbush
Atwood Music Hall owner Toffer Christensen.
Owner Toffer Christensen says the new venue will be a big brother to the Bur Oak.
“Locals Night,” partially funded with assistance from an east-side business that wishes to remain anonymous, will give Madison bands an opportunity to play the large hall. “I wanted to figure out a way to allow local bands to play the room,” Christensen says. To enable a low ticket price, the sponsor will subsidize the show costs. “I’ll pick one local act each time to curate the night,” Christensen continues. “They’ll set the ticket price, book the support acts and keep 100% of ticket sales after tax.”
The first Locals Night is booked for June 27 and while Christensen isn’t ready to announce the lineup, he promises a “killer headliner.” He hopes the series will help grow bands so they eventually can play the Atwood Muisc Hall on their own without help from the project.
The remainder of June will be a run of “Grand Opening” shows, all of which will have some local flavor and, as Christensen puts it, “pay tribute to the area’s rich arts scene.” Show announcements for June will begin in early 2025.
