Address | Lincoln Square Worcester, Massachusetts United States of America |
---|---|
Capacity | 3,508 |
Current use | vacant |
Construction | |
Opened | 1933 |
Architect | Frederic C. Hirons and L. W. Briggs Company |
Worcester Memorial Auditorium (also known simply as Worcester Auditorium) is a multi-purpose arena located at Lincoln Square in Worcester, Massachusetts. Built in 1933, as a World War I War memorial in the form of a multi-purpose hall, the Auditorium has a 116-foot-wide (35 m),proscenium. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 as part of the Institutional District.
In 2009 Lincoln Square was listed as one of the "Most Endangered Historic Resources" in the state by Preservation Massachusetts because of the three historical buildings in the square that are all empty or underutilized. The Auditorium was most recently used to house Massachusetts State Trial Court records and a small after-school program.
The Worcester Auditorium was designed as a World War I War memorial in the form of a multi-purpose hall. The building is built in the Classical Revival style, but with Art Deco bas-relief ornamentation. The interior murals in the Auditorium were created by the artist Leon Kroll, and took three years to complete between 1938 and 1941. When finished the main mural was the largest of its kind in the United States.
Since the Auditorium opened, it has been home to the Bay State Bombardiers of the Continental Basketball Association and the Holy Cross Crusaders before the Hart Center opened in 1975. It has also hosted Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue and has served as a shelter after the Worcester tornado hit. There is another small performance space known as the "Little Theater" attached to the Auditorium, which can seat 675 people, but it is currently empty as well.