Century II Performing Arts & Convention Center is a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...

and

convention center A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had ...

, United States. It is located between Douglas Street and Waterman Street near the east bank of the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

in downtown Wichita. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 2020. Century II is the largest center for entertainment, consumer shows and meetings in Wichita and is home to four arts organizations - Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Wichita Grand Opera,

Music Theatre Wichita Music Theatre Wichita is a summer musical theatre, which has produced over 200 Broadway-scale productions since its founding in 1972. Founded as Music Theatre of Wichita in 1972 to provide summertime entertainment inside the 2100-seat Concert Hall o ...

, and Music Theatre for Young People. The facility has almost of contiguous exhibit space, 20 meeting rooms, a Concert Hall that seats 2,197 people in continental seating, the Mary Jane Teall Theatre that seats 650 people in continental seating, and Convention Hall that seats 4,700 people. The Performing Arts and Convention Center hosted

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

pageants from

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

Miss Teen USA 1995 Miss Teen USA 1995, the 13th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas on 15 August 1995. At the conclusion of the final competition, Keylee Sue Sanders of Kansas was crowned by outgoing ...

, as well as the 1989

ABC Masters The USBC Masters is a championship ten-pin bowling event conducted by the United States Bowling Congress. The Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) began recognizing it as a title event in 1998, and it was designated one of the four majors in 2000 ...

bowling tournament.

History

The facility was designed by John M. Hickman and opened January 11, 1969 to commemorate the centennial anniversary of Wichita's incorporation in 1870. It was constructed on the site of The Forum, a convention center and exposition hall that opened in 1911. By the 1960s, The Forum was showing its age and did not have adequate facilities that performances or shows required. The 1926

Wurlitzer The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...

organ from the

Paramount Theatre (New York City) The Paramount Theatre was a 3,664-seat movie palace located at 43rd Street and Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway on Times Square in New York City. Opened in 1926, it was a showcase theatre and the New York headquarters of Paramount Pictures. Adolph ...

was removed prior to that theater's demolition and installed in the Century II Convention Hall. Prior to the demolition of the Paramount Theatre, the organ was acquired by Richard Simonton of Los Angeles. In the 1970s, the organ was moved to the Century II Convention Center in Wichita, Kansas. The organ continues to be used today for concerts and other events. The building is a low circular structure with a shallow domed roof in the style of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

. A similar structure is the Marin County Civic Center in California. John Hickman was an apprentice of Wright's at

Taliesin West Taliesin West was architect Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home and studio in the desert from 1937 until his death in 1959 at the age of 91. Today it is the headquarters of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation. Open to the public for tours, Taliesin ...

in the late 1940s. A quote from the daughter of the architect, Susan Hickman, says that her father felt that the inspiration for the building was the vast fields of wheat (represented by the sand-colored pillars) and the limitless sky (by the pale blue-colored dome). The lobby encircles the main level with convention hall, exhibition hall and concert hall occupying wedge-shaped areas within the ring. The stages of the three spaces abut in the building's center. An additional exhibit hall named for former Wichita City Commissioner and Mayor Bob Brown was added to the original structure in 1986. The hall contains an additional of exhibit space with an lobby. In 1997, the 303-room

Hyatt Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vacat ...

Regency Wichita hotel was constructed and connected to the center. Renovations on the concert hall began in August 2010. Work included painting, installation of new seats, carpeting and draperies and an upgrade of electrical systems. Crews had a window of just less than two months to work between scheduled events. In October, the center unveiled the renovated areas along with a new logo. The logo was unpopular with many area residents and quickly dropped.

Gallery

Image:Wichita pan 1.jpg, View of the east bank of the Arkansas River in downtown Wichita. Century II is in the upper right.(photo taken from the Hyatt Regency Wichita) Image:Century II - Bob Brown Expo Hall.jpg, The Bob Brown Expo Hall at Century II Image:CenturyII1999.jpg, Century II as seen from the roof of 250 Douglas Place, then known as the Garvey Center, in 1999.

History

Gallery

References

External links