Macon City Auditorium
Encyclopedia
Macon, Georgia
Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
that has hosted performances, meetings, and events for the community since 1925. It is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
.
Located nearly across the street from Macon's historic City Hall
City Hall (Macon, Georgia)
Macon City Hall serves as the seat of government for the city of Macon, Georgia, in the United States. It is located in the downtown area, surrounded by Cotton Avenue, First Street, Poplar Street, and D.T. Walton, Sr. Way...
, the Auditorium is designed in a similar Classical style, surrounded on three sides by limestone Doric columns.
The building is capped by a copper dome
Dome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
, claimed by many locals to be the largest in the world, though verifying the fact has proved difficult. Below the dome, the Great Hall seats 2,688 total, split between the 14000 square feet (1,300.6 m²) floor (typically configured with folding chairs and tables for various uses) and a balcony with fixed seating for 988. Over the stage, a Don Carlos Dubois and Wilbur Kurtz mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
contains scenes from Macon area history from the Spanish explorations of Hernando de Soto
Hernando de Soto (explorer)
Hernando de Soto was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River....
to the early twentieth century.
Though it is significantly older than, and geographically separate from, the other buildings in the complex, the Auditorium is maintained as part of the Macon Centreplex, which also includes the Macon Coliseum
Macon Coliseum
The Macon Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena and convention center in Macon, Georgia, United States. It was home to the Macon Whoopee and Macon Trax ice hockey teams and also the Macon Knights arena football team until 2006. It is currently home to the Georgia Gwizzlies, a basketball team that plays...
and Edgar H. Wilson Convention Centre. The latter two facilities comprise a single building on the east side of the Ocmulgee River
Ocmulgee River
The Ocmulgee River is a tributary of the Altamaha River, approximately 255 mi long, in the U.S. state of Georgia...
, and for many in the general public, "the Centreplex" refers specifically to that property, while the downtown structure continues to be colloquially known simply as "the Auditorium".