The opening of the new home of Alley Theatre in November 1968 was a nationally chronicled event. The Alley's building at 615 Texas Ave. was designed by
Ulrich Franzen, who, along with Ms. Vance, wanted to create "a building that sings from any viewpoint." The theatre building has no right angles but does have wide bands and terraces and is “reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings.” Franzen selected the concrete exterior because he was inspired by Houston's location and the warm weather of the Southwest. There are three triangles in the main building and "the curves cling to and move around the triangles." Franzen designed the Alley in what is known as the
Brutalist style, which was popular from the 1950s through the mid-1970s. The term "brutalism" was coined in 1953 and comes from the French
béton brut meaning "raw concrete". Concrete is the material most widely associated with Brutalist architecture. The Alley's building is among many famous Brutalist structures, including Washington D.C.'s
L'Enfant Plaza, the
J. Edgar Hoover Building, and the Metro stations (
WMATA),
Yale University's Art and Architecture Building,
Boston City Hall, the
FBI Academy, and the
Royal National Theatre (London). The new Alley Theatre became "the most modern, elastic theatre house in the world for the dramatic arts" thanks to
Yale University professor
George Izenour's first-of-its-kind light grid, adjustable walls and analogue recorder. The tension wire grid, which Izenour described as similar to a bedspring, was made of a couple miles of aircraft cable, which formed a mesh 19 feet above the stage, allowing lighting technicians to easily walk on it before shows to adjust lighting and eliminated the need for footlights, spotlights and curtains. Houston architect Preston Bolton wrote of Franzen and the Alley building, "I believe the architect, Ulrich Franzen, has created a most successful building for the Alley Theatre – one that will receive much recognition for the city, and enhance the excellent productions that are to come."
Newsweek wrote about the new Alley Theatre, "the most striking theatre in the U.S. … another step along the road toward ending Broadway's domination of the American theatre," and Sydney Johnson of
The Montreal Star wrote, "… it looks as though the new Alley Theatre is going to be one of the best – and probably the very best – in the U.S. at least, simply because the building has been designed to house a specified stage and auditorium instead of the other way round." The new theater was deemed "a very successful statement of both theatrical and architectural values" and was cited by the American Institute of Architects as “inside and out, a brilliant theatrical event.” In 1996, the Alley was featured in the
Book of American Architecture: 500 Notable Buildings from the 10th Century to Present by G. E. Kidder Smith. In June 2001,
Tropical Storm Allison severely damaged the Neuhaus Stage located on the basement level of the theatre. The flood destroyed the theatre's costume, props, and scenic shops. The theatre was flooded with 14 feet of water. In 2002, the Alley unveiled its new Center for Theatre Production, a 75,000-square-foot facility. It is adjacent to the main theatre building. The
Houston Press, along with others like the George R. Brown Convention Center, ranked the building as one of the ten least photogenic buildings in Downtown Houston. John Nova Lomax, the author of the list, commented "Yeah, yeah, I like the curves and all that, but this concrete hulk still looks like something
Stalin's favorite architect would have come up with on
'shrooms." In 2017,
Hurricane Harvey brought massive flooding to the greater Houston region. Flood improvements made by the Alley after Tropical Storm Allison in 2001, such as flood doors on the basement level, held. However, water entered the Alley basement through an electrical box located in the theatre's driveway. The Alley Theatre's Neuhaus Stage was flooded with 17 feet of water and most of the theatre's prop collection, dating back to the 1940s, was destroyed. A massive renovation was undertaken and the theatre re-opened 2 months later in time for its annual production of
A Christmas Carol. == Building renovation ==