University of Florida Auditorium
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The University Auditorium, originally known as the Memorial Auditorium and sometimes called the University of Florida Auditorium, is a historic building on the campus of the
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
in Gainesville,
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. It was designed by
William Augustus Edwards William Augustus Edwards, also known as William A. Edwards (December 8, 1866 – March 30, 1939) was an Atlanta-based American architect renowned for the educational buildings, courthouses and other public and private buildings that he design ...
in the
Collegiate Gothic Collegiate Gothic is an architectural style subgenre of Gothic Revival architecture, popular in the late-19th and early-20th centuries for college and high school buildings in the United States and Canada, and to a certain extent Europ ...
style and was built between 1922-1924. It was restored and expanded in 1977 by architect James McGinley. The expansion, which added a new entrance and lobbies, was designed to complement but not match the original architecture. It is a
contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...
in the
University of Florida Campus Historic District The University of Florida Campus Historic District is a historic district on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. The district, bounded by West University Avenue, Southwest 13th Street, Stadium Road and Gale Lemeran ...
which was added to 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 ...
on April 20, 1989. On April 18, 2012, the
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to: Aia * Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain * Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis * Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece * ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
's Florida Chapter placed University Auditorium on its list of ''Florida Architecture: 100 Years. 100 Places''.


Interior Design

William Edward's University Chapel-Auditorium was planned in the early 1920s to be the first unit of an imposing central University administrative building with a massive bell tower. His design is clearly patterned after London's 11th-century
Westminster Hall The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parli ...
and 19th-century Central Lobby in the Houses of Parliament, and also appropriates some features seen in Proctor Hall, the 1913 graduate dining hall at Princeton University designed by
Ralph Adams Cram Ralph Adams Cram (December 16, 1863 – September 22, 1942) was a prolific and influential American architect of collegiate and ecclesiastical buildings, often in the Gothic Revival style. Cram & Ferguson and Cram, Goodhue & Ferguson are partner ...
. The striking auditorium interior is unique in its application of a 14th-century
hammerbeam roof A hammerbeam roof is a decorative, open timber roof truss typical of English Gothic architecture and has been called "...the most spectacular endeavour of the English Medieval carpenter". They are traditionally timber framed, using short beams pr ...
to a cruciform structure. The boss at each hammerbeam end presents one symbol of the "land-grant quadrivium" - the Scholar wears a four-cornered academic cap reminiscent of a 5th-century square biretta; the Musician strokes a Greek lyre; the Engineer lifts a notched gear; and the Athlete sports a leather football helmet. In each of the two large windows above the east and west transept balconies, six scholars depicted in early 20th-century Art Deco style overlook the audience space.


Andrew Anderson Memorial Organ

University President
Albert Murphree Albert Alexander Murphree (April 29, 1870 – December 20, 1927) was an American college professor and university president. Murphree was a native of Alabama, and became a mathematics instructor after earning his bachelor's degree. He late ...
received $50,000 for the organ from Dr. Andrew Anderson, a
St. Augustine Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...
physician, philanthropist, and associate of early Florida developer
Henry Flagler Henry Morrison Flagler (January 2, 1830 – May 20, 1913) was an American industrialist and a founder of Standard Oil, which was first based in Ohio. He was also a key figure in the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida and founde ...
. The spacious interior of the University Auditorium with its elaborate wood-carvings and roomy galleries was reminiscent of Proctor Hall and other buildings at Princeton University (which Dr. Anderson had attended before the Civil War), and offered a congenial home. Tonal plans for Florida were prepared by William Zeuch of Boston's famous
Skinner Organ Company Æolian-Skinner Organ Company, Inc. of Boston, Massachusetts was an American builder of a large number of pipe organs from its inception as the Skinner Organ Company in 1901 until its closure in 1972. Key figures were Ernest M. Skinner (1866–1 ...
, which built and installed the original instrument in early 1925. The organ was first played publicly on June 7, 1925, at the annual University Commencement Convocation. A musical landmark for its day, the organ was designed and voiced at the zenith of orchestral-imitative or "symphonic" organ design in this country, and is mentioned in such reference works as Orpha Ochse's ''The History of the Organ in the United States'' and Charles Callahan's ''The American Classic Organ''. It was heard frequently through the 1930s in recitals by Claude Murphree, University Organist, as well as in early broadcasts over the University's "new" radio station, WRUF. An elaborate organ façade was also designed by the architect, but was never built. In the early 1960s the Æolian-Skinner Organ Company of Boston began a program of mechanical renovation and tonal changes, and the M. P. Moller Organ Company continued expanding and modifying the organ as a teaching and recital instrument for the growing School of Music. Only a handful of Skinner stops remain in the present instrument, with the majority coming from Æolian-Skinner, Moller, Austin and Reuter. Today the Andrew Anderson Memorial Organ, with 99 ranks and nearly 5400 pipes, is one of the largest recital instruments in the United States, with a major place in the musical life of this community of scholars.


Current use

The University of Florida Auditorium today 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 ...
venue which seats up to 843 people. It has a concert stage, and is used for musical concerts,
lectures A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical inform ...
, convocations, and pageants. Its director is Brian Jose.


See also

*
University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
*
Buildings at the University of Florida The University of Florida is the flagship university in the State University System of Florida and has many notable buildings located in cities including Gainesville, Jacksonville, and Orlando. The Campus Historic District at the University of ...
* Campus Historic District


References


External links


UF Historic Sites Guide: University Auditorium

UF Performing Arts: University Auditorium

''Gainesville Sun'' article about the auditorium
{{University of Florida Buildings at the University of Florida William Augustus Edwards buildings Historic district contributing properties in Florida National Register of Historic Places in Gainesville, Florida University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida 1924 establishments in Florida University and college buildings completed in 1924