Naming rights at the Disney
With the price of the newly completed Los Angeles' Disney Hall having ballooned significantly, the naming rights to every piece of the fabulous Gehry building were up for sale, according to this New York Times story (registration required):
Terry Stanfill found what she was looking for — her name — before she got as far as the Henry Mancini Family Staircase and the Ron Burkle-Ralphs/Food 4 Less Foundation Auditorium. When you donate only $50,000, all you get is your name two inches tall on a stone paver of the terrace garden at the new Walt Disney Concert Hall here.
...Disney Hall, designed by Frank Gehry, is not just an architectural tour de force. With a budget that ballooned from the original estimate of $110 million to $274 million, it became a rare naming opportunity, a kind of permanent billboard for wealthy people to have their names inscribed. Every atrium, every staircase, every reception room, even every escalator in and around Disney Hall carries the name of a benefactor.