Lee Center for the Arts

The Lee Center is the Department of Fine Arts state-of-the-art performance and exhibition space on the corner of Twelfth Avenue and East Marion Street.  The facility was designed to enrich the artistic experience of Seattle University students, foster the development of new creative work by Seattle artists, and strengthen the infrastructure for arts education serving youth and adults in Seattle's Central District and wider community.  The center houses the "black-box theater" John Eshelman Stage, scene shop, costume shop, green room, and dressing rooms. 

It is also home to the Hedreen Gallery, a lobby art gallery for the public display of visual art by students and visiting artists visible through over 90 feet if plate glass windows along Twelfth Avenue. 

The exterior décor coordinates with the surrounding campus, while the Hedreen Gallery invites engagement from visitors and passersby and helps to make the facility accessible and welcoming to the public.

Seattle University opened the Jeanne Marie & Rhoady Lee Center on February 14, 2006. The design of the Lee Center for the Arts won the 2006 AIA Seattle Chapter, Award of Merit, and the 2008 AIA Northwest and Pacific Region, Award of Merit.