City Auditorium

[Retama]

Found this on eBay:

[NenaE]

Thanks for sharing, Retama...I've seen many old Houston building photos...but never this one. It's a nice shot.

[Dagnabbit]

Thanks for sharing, Retama...I've seen many old Houston building photos...but never this one. It's a nice shot.

Here's the description from the ebay auction that goes with the image.

"You are bidding on an original 8 x 10 Wire Photo of Texas City Auditorium Interior . Caption is dated as Jan 15,1928."

[marmer]

Interesting. eBay is wrong but that's just a coincidence because there is a Texas City. It's clearly the old Houston City Auditorium.

[Dagnabbit]

Interesting. eBay is wrong but that's just a coincidence because there is a Texas City. It's clearly the old Houston City Auditorium.

http://www.scottymoo...houstonAud.html

[NenaE]

I think what the seller means by "Texas City" a city in Texas...sometimes the seller doesn't know that much about the item, they're just trying to describe it to the best of their ability.

We, on the other hand, know more about Houston & it's smaller neighbor, Texas City.

Or the caption could have been printed as Texas "City Auditorium".

BTW, I saw that new, small book about Texas City today at Barnes & Nobles.

Edited October 21, 2011 by NenaE

[marmer]

I think what the seller means by "Texas City" a city in Texas...sometimes the seller doesn't know that much about the item, they're just trying to describe it to the best of their ability.

We, on the other hand, know more about Houston & it's smaller neighbor, Texas City.

Or the caption could have been printed as Texas "City Auditorium".

BTW, I saw that new, small book about Texas City today at Barnes & Nobles.

Precisely. Is that an Arcadia book? The other ones are really cool.

[NenaE]

Precisely. Is that an Arcadia book? The other ones are really cool.

Exactyl! There are so many good ones, now. I bought the one titled Houston 1860-1900 by Ann Dunphy Becker.

In taking a class on Industrial America. Hopefully I will be able to use it for my research paper on Houston.

[Utinga]

http://www.scottymoo...houstonAud.html

The two look nothing alike. Was there an extensive remodel?

[NenaE]

The two look nothing alike. Was there an extensive remodel?

I think it was a remodel, the 1910 picture has the same type floor seat boxes as the 1928 one does.

Although, I agree, much had changed by the later years.

You know Houston, always wanting to upstage itself. haha.

[FilioScotia]

I think it was a remodel, the 1910 picture has the same type floor seat boxes as the 1928 one does.

Although, I agree, much had changed by the later years.

You know Houston, always wanting to upstage itself. haha.

In the mid 1950s I was a member of the Houston Youth Symphony Boy's Choir, and we rehearsed every week in the City Auditorium's huge vaulted lobby of the 2nd floor mezzanine. Acoustically it was fantastic.

I also wonder if Nena's photo is of the Houston City Auditorium, the one that was at Texas and Louisiana Streets. I was there every week for several years, and I remember when you came in the front doors off Texas Avenue into the main lobby, there were more huge doors opening into the auditorium and facing the stage on the other side of the hall.

I see no sign of those lobby doors in that old photo. The second floor mezzanine lobby also had big doors leading to the mezzanine seats, and I see no sign of those doors either.

Could this photo be of another large auditorium somewhere? Many cities had big public halls like that one.

Edited October 21, 2011 by FilioScotia

[marmer]

There are more photos of the City Auditorium in the Bob Bailey Collection. Bob Bailey Collection

The eBay photo is unquestionably the Houston City Auditorium. I admit the 1910 photo on Scotty Moore's web site looks very different. I wonder if the impetus for the remodel was the 1928 Democratic Convention. I know they built a special venue for it but maybe they spruced up the Auditorium for other events. Also, the face of public entertainment was changing fairly drastically between 1910 and 1928 with the increase in movies and the growth of jazz and the decline of vaudeville.

However, if you look carefully at the 1910 photo, it looks like the roof is not complete and the building is still under construction. But the column location and the balcony, as well as the floor boxes, are the same. Before 1928 it looks like a projection/control booth was added in the center of the balcony and a major reconstruction of the proscenium and wings occurred -- maybe for an organ, for speakers, or to mask more wing space for live performance (or likely some of all of that)

[NenaE]

I can't take credit for the second photo, FilioScotia...that was Dagnabbit's link.

It was an interesting bldg.

BTW, marmer what's a proscenium? I couuld look it up, but asking you is much more interesting.

Sounds like a Greek or Roman word.

[marmer]

A proscenium is an arch or similar structure surrounding a traditional stage. It hides the curtains and fly loft, if there is one. It can be clearly seen as a grand arch in the 1928 photo.

It is associated with opera houses and similar auditoriums and is in contrast to a thrust stage, where the playing area projects out into the audience (like the big Alley Theatre) or an arena theatre, where the audience surrounds a central playing area (like the small Alley Theatre.)

[Utinga]

I think it was a remodel, the 1910 picture has the same type floor seat boxes as the 1928 one does.

Although, I agree, much had changed by the later years.

You know Houston, always wanting to upstage itself. haha.

Agree. But I still can't see enough similar. I've no idea though.

[Highrise Tower]

Looks like the City Auditorium was designed by architect Alfred C. Finn.

I believe this was located on Main Street. Does anyone have an address?  One website has an address of 615 Louisiana, where the current Jones Hall is located. Can we get a confirmation of the address and location?

 

[Tumbleweed_Tx]

City Auditorium was torn down to build Jones Hall.

 

fun trivia.... City Auditorium is where Johnny Ace "committed suicide" by supposedly playing Russian Roulette with Big Mama Thornton standing nearby.