Municipal Auditorium (Kansas City)

Municipal Auditorium
Location	301 West 13th Street, Kansas City, Missouri
Coordinates	39°05′54″N 94°35′11″W / 39.098353°N 94.586416°W / 39.098353; -94.586416Coordinates: 39°05′54″N 94°35′11″W / 39.098353°N 94.586416°W / 39.098353; -94.586416
Opened	1935
Renovated	2007
Owner	City of Kansas City, Missouri
Operator	Kansas City, Missouri Convention and Entertainment Facilities
Construction cost	$6.5 million ($104 million in 2011 dollars[1])
Architect	Gentry, Voskamp & Neville Hoit Price & Barnes
Capacity	Arena: 7,316 permanent +3,405 temporary[2] Music Hall: 2,400[3] Little Theatre: 400[4]
Tenants
UMKC Kangaroos (1935–2010) Kansas City Kings (NBA) (1972–1974) Kansas City Attack (NPSL) (1991–1992) Kansas City Roller Warriors (WFTDA)

Municipal Auditorium is a large, multi-purpose facility in Kansas City, Missouri with three halls: The Arena, Music Hall, and Little Theatre. It opened in 1936 and features Streamline Moderne and Art Deco architecture and architectural details.

Background

Municipal Auditorium was one of the buildings built in 1934 as part of a "Ten Year Plan" championed by various local politicians including Harry S. Truman and Thomas Pendergast. Other buildings in the plan included the Kansas City City Hall and the Kansas City branch of the Jackson County Courthouse.

It replaced Convention Hall which was directly across the street and was torn down for parking in what is now called the Barney Allis Plaza.

The streamline moderne architecture was designed by the lead architectural firm of Gentry, Voskamp & Neville to appeal to new visitors with cool and confident restraint. True to its name, the style promised to envelop the visitor in modernity, assuring him/her that Kansas City was a rising star in the country, a place to recommend to friends and colleagues. Alonzo H. Gentry, of the lead architectural firm of Gentry, Voskamp & Neville, was to later design the Truman Library. Hoit, Price & Barnes, the associated architects responsible for the HVAC work at the Municipal Auditorium, had recently designed the Art Deco skyscraper, the Kansas City Power and Light Building (completed in 1931).

When the building opened in 1935, it was called by the Architectural Record "one of the 10 best buildings of the world that year" ^[5] In 2000, the Princeton Architectural Press called it one of the 500 most important architectural works in the United States.^[6]

Municipal Auditorium is connected to the H. Roe Bartle Convention Center by way of skywalks over 13th and Central streets. An underground walkway through a public parking garage provides access to the Kansas City Marriott Downtown, Holiday Inn Aladdin Hotel, and the Folly Theater.

Gallery

• 

  An example of the Art Deco details found throughout Municipal Auditorium.

• 

  Foyer of
  Little Theatre.

• 

  Art deco chandelier in Music Hall.

• 

  Wall decoration in
  Little Theatre.

• 

  Monumental Art Deco medallion on the front of Municipal Auditorium.

Arena

The Arena, nicknamed "Municipal," has hosted the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament since 2003, held every year in early March. When Kansas City hosts the Big 12 tournament, women's games take place here. It is currently home to the NAIA Men's Division I Basketball National Tournament. It was played here from 1937-1975, when it moved into Kemper Arena, and has been home since the Tournament moved back to Kansas City from Tulsa in 2002.

As of 2007, Municipal Auditorium had hosted more NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament games (83), regional finals (13) and Final Fours (9) than any other facility. The arena also hosted three of the first four Final Fours, but has not hosted a tournament game since 1964.^[7] As of 2010, the University of Dayton Arena will tie Municipal Auditorium in number of games hosted as that arena hosts the opening round game of the NCAA tournament.

The 19,500-seat Kemper Arena was built in 1974 to accommodate Kansas City's professional basketball teams that had been playing at the Auditorium. The Kansas City Kings played their first two seasons at the Auditorium, then returned for the majority of the 1979-80 season after the roof of Kemper Arena caved in on June 4, 1979.

It was home to the University of Missouri–Kansas City Kangaroos basketball team until they moved their games to the Swinney Recreation Center on campus in fall 2010. Since January 2009, it has been the home of the Kansas City Roller Warriors roller derby league.^[8]

Music Hall

The Kansas City Music Hall is a large proscenium theatre with a striking Streamline Modern interior that seats an audience of 2,400 patrons. The hall presents touring Broadway shows, as well as visiting symphony orchestras, opera and ballet companies, and other events. It was the main hall of the Kansas City Philharmonic for several decades. It's also the home of the 1927 Robert-Morton Theatre Pipe Organ that originally was in the Kansas City Midland Theatre. The organ is owned and maintained by Kansas City Theatre Pipe Organ, Inc.^[9]

Little Theatre

The Little Theatre is an elegant octogonal ballroom with a capacity for 400, or banquet seating for 225 available for catered events, and a private balcony room for up to 36 guests.

Sports succession history

Events and tenants
Preceded by Cincinnati Gardens	Home of the Kansas City-Omaha Kings (with Omaha Civic Auditorium) 1972 – 1974	Succeeded by Kemper Arena
Preceded by Patten Gymnasium Hec Edmundson Pavilion McGaw Hall Cow Palace Freedom Hall	NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Finals Venue 1940 – 42 1953 – 55 1957 1961 1964	Succeeded by Madison Square Garden McGaw Hall Freedom Hall Freedom Hall Memorial Coliseum

References

1. ^ Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–2008. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
2. ^ Kansas City Convention Center, Municipal Auditorium (Arena), retrieved August 30, 2010
3. ^ Kansas City Convention Center, Municipal Auditorium Music Hall, retrieved August 30, 2010
4. ^ Kansas City Convention Center, Municipal Auditorium Little Theatre, retrieved August 30, 2010
5. ^ Alonzo H. Gentry, Architect, Is Dead, Kansas City Times, February 7, 1967
6. ^ Kidder G.E. Smith (2000), Source Book of American Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press. ISBN 1568982534
7. ^ Official 2007 NCAA Men's Final Four Records Book
8. ^ "Blood on the Rink, The Pitch, January 22, 2009". http://www.pitch.com/2009-01-22/calendar/blood-on-the-rink/. 
9. ^ Kansas City Pipe Organ, Inc.