Public Auditorium is a multi-purpose performing arts, entertainment, sports, and exposition facility located in the civic center district of
downtown Cleveland
Downtown Cleveland is the central business district of Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The economic and cultural center of the city and the Cleveland metropolitan area, it is Cleveland's oldest district, with its Public Square, Cleveland, Publi ...
. The building features two large performance spaces: the 10,000-capacity Public Hall and the 2,800-seat Music Hall, which share a common stage. In addition, the facility also includes the 603-seat Little Theater along with several conference and meeting rooms. Since 2024, Public Hall serves as the home arena to the
Cleveland Charge of the
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
.
Although Public Auditorium was planned and funded prior to
World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, construction did not begin until 1920, and the building did not open until 1922. Designed by city architect J. Harold McDowell and Frank Walker of
Walker and Weeks
Walker and Weeks was an architecture firm based in Cleveland, Ohio, founded by Frank Ray Walker (September 29, 1877 - July 9, 1949) and Harry E. Weeks (October 2, 1871 - December 21, 1935).
Background
Harry Weeks was born October 2, 1871, in W. ...
in a
neoclassical style matching the other
Group Plan buildings, it was the largest of its kind when opened, then seating 11,500.
Construction and expansion
The auditorium cornerstone was laid October 20, 1920, and the completed building was dedicated April 15, 1922. Smith & Oby was one local company involved in the project, at the time the largest convention hall in the United States. The main arena floor is and high. No columns were used in its construction. With all its removable seats in place on the arena floor and in the balcony, the hall could seat 13,000.
The main stage is with a proscenium arch. A key attraction was a spectacular pipe organ, Opus 328, the largest ever built at one time by
E.M. Skinner with 10,010 pipes and 150 direct speaking stops. Below ground, a basement Exhibition Hall provided more than of exhibition space. This space was reached by an elegant stone staircased with bronze lights which led down from Public Auditorium's lobby. But the exhibition space itself was uninviting. It had an
asphalt
Asphalt most often refers to:
* Bitumen, also known as "liquid asphalt cement" or simply "asphalt", a viscous form of petroleum mainly used as a binder in asphalt concrete
* Asphalt concrete, a mixture of bitumen with coarse and fine aggregates, u ...
floor, was undecorated, and was interrupted by more than 40 columns.
Cleveland's Public Auditorium was considered so advanced architecturally that it became the model for similar public auditoriums in
Atlantic City
Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.
Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City- Hammonton metropolitan sta ...
and
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
.
Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame
The
Greater Cleveland Sports Hall of Fame displays duplicates of many of the plaques it has awarded in the lobby at the Lakeside Avenue entrance to the Cleveland Public Auditorium.
1928 and 1936 additions
In 1928, the Music Hall and Little Theater were added at the south end of Public Auditorium, and a terrace added to the north end.
The stage between the main hall and Music Hall was shared by both halls by employing a curtain system.
In 1936, two underground spaces were added to Public Auditorium. The ballroom was built beneath Mall B of the
Cleveland Mall, while the Lakeside Exhibition Hall (also known as the North Exhibition Hall) was built below Mall C between the
Cuyahoga County Courthouse
The Cuyahoga County Courthouse stretches along Lakeside Avenue at the north end of the Cleveland Mall in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The building was listed on the National Register along with the mall district in 1975. Other notable buildings o ...
and
Cleveland City Hall.
The seating capacity of the main auditorium, including the main floor and the U-shaped balcony, was eventually reduced to about 10,000. Music Hall seats 3,000, and the Little Theater 600.
1964 alterations

In 1964, the city constructed a
new underground convention center. The ballroom/exhibition space below Mall B was demolished and a much larger "Great Hall" (the convention center) built in its place. A tunnel was constructed below Lakeside Avenue to connect the new "Great Hall" to the Lakeside Exhibition Hall. On the west side of Public Auditorium, a four-story (one source says three-and-a-half story) modern glass and metal entrance pavilion added new lobby space for both buildings.
1987 renovations
From 1983 to 1987, the convention center and Public Auditorium were both extensively renovated. The Exhibition Hall below Public Auditorium was radically changed, with a lobby/ballroom created out of former service space at the north end of the hall. A stone staircase was built in this area to connect the space to the hall above.
This area could accommodate up to 2,000 people. The rest of the old Exhibition Hall was turned into 15 meeting rooms (ranging in size from 10 to 700 seats), office space, a cocktail lounge, and a
piano bar arranged around a central block.
A corridor hugged the exterior wall of the old hall, providing access to the meeting rooms. This corridor had decorative stone panels on one side and painted wood on the other, and was lined with sturdy chair upholstered in luggage fabric. The old asphalt floor was covered with concrete, and then tiled and carpeted.
Cove lighting lit the corridor and meeting rooms.
The Lakeside Exhibition Hall was converted into a ballroom with kitchen, and the north wall of the hall removed and replaced with a glass
curtain wall that had views of
Lake Erie
Lake Erie ( ) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest avera ...
.
The bathrooms in Public Auditorium were renovated to make them accessible as well as modern,
and all public spaces in Public Auditorium were retiled, repainted, and replastered, while furniture received new upholstery.
The north terrace was rebuilt in four different colors of granite.
New
taxicab stand
A taxicab stand (also called taxi rank, cab stand, taxi stand, cab rank, or hack stand) is a queue area on a street or on private property where taxicabs line up to wait for passengers.
Operation
Stands are normally located at high-traffic l ...
s were built at each end of Public Auditorium, and small gardens placed at each end of each taxi stand.
The overall decorating scheme featured colors of muted beige, blue, gray, green, and rose.
The reception pavilion received a $1.8 million ($ in dollars) overhaul. Its exterior metal
façade
A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face".
In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...
was removed
and replaced with
beige
Beige ( ) is variously described as a pale sandy fawn color, a grayish tan, a light-grayish yellowish brown, or a pale to grayish yellow. It takes its name from French, where the word originally meant natural wool that has been neither ble ...
limestone
Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
.
The glass curtain wall received new mechanical louvers.
The interior wall coverings of dark wood paneling and bronzed aluminum were replaced with a cream-colored
travertine
Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...
wainscoting
topped by a band of polished stone.
Fabric covered the walls above the bandk,
and white wooden grills were used to help break up the space.
A new terrazzo floor in pastel colors was also installed.
Displays about where to eat, drink, and shop in downtown Cleveland were added to the lobby, as were several kiosks where airlines could assist convention-goers in making plane reservations. Six trees were planted inside the lobby to make it more inviting,
and new paving and exterior lighting were installed outside the pavilion.
A number of changes were made to the landscape around Public Auditorium. New signage with contemporary graphics were installed throughout the area.
The pedestrian bridge over E. Mall Drive, which connected the upper level of the reception pavilion to Mall B, was reconfigured into a small plaza with flagpoles. Over the entrance to the pavilion hung a sculpture. Consisting of a number of metal flags, it spun in the wind.
Around Public Auditorium, new streetlight lampposts, based on a 1922 design, were manufactured and installed.
The terraces on the north and south ends of Public Auditorium were also refurbished. Both received new stone paving and new wooden benches for seating, and the plain aluminum railings were painted to look like
copper
Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...
. The terraces were made more friendly by also adding a number of small trees in planters. A new
Postmodern-style arch was constructed to mark the entrance to the north terrace.
2000s changes
In 2008, all seats were replaced in the balcony.
In 2010, the city sold the underground convention center to
Cuyahoga County
Cuyahoga County ( or , see ) is a large urban county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Ohio. The county seat and most populous city is Cleveland. As of the 2020 census, its population was 1,264,817, making it the second ...
, which repurposed it to construct the new $465 million
Cleveland Convention Center, connected to the
Global Center for Health Innovation. The work included a $3.9 million renovation and restoration of Public Auditorium.
The 1964 pavilion addition was demolished, and the building's west facade was restored.
When the neighboring Crowne Plaza was sold and renovated as the
Westin Hotel Cleveland in 2013, its new owners considered building a
skywalk
The SkyWalk is an approximately 160 metre enclosed walkway connecting Union Station to the CN Tower and the Rogers Centre (SkyDome) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of Toronto's PATH network, the SkyWalk passes above the York Street ' s ...
across East 6th Street connecting it to Public Auditorium. It was not constructed.
Events
Public Auditorium has hosted many notable events, including the
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
and
1936
Events January–February
* January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House.
* January 28 – Death and state funer ...
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...
s,
General Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...
's address on September 23, 1952, to 15,000 supporters immediately after Richard Nixon's successful
Fund Speech, and the 1993
Cleveland Orchestra
The Cleveland Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1918 by the pianist and impresario Adella Prentiss Hughes, the orchestra is one of the five American orchestras informally referred to as the " Big Five". T ...
75th anniversary concert.
On December 14, 1936, 11,000 spectators watched as boxer
Joe Louis
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1934 to 1951. Nicknamed "the Brown Bomber", Louis is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential boxers of all time. He r ...
fought and defeated Eddie Simms at the auditorium, with Louis knocking Simms out in only 26 seconds. In 1946, jazz guitarist
Django Reinhardt
Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...
made his American debut at Music Hall, accompanied by pianist
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
. Both Music Hall and Public Hall have served as venues for many
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
acts, including such legendary performers as
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...
,
the Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
,
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, comprising vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most influential and controversial rock acts ...
,
The Supremes
The Supremes were an American girl group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959 as the Primettes. A premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown's acts and the most successful Amer ...
,
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...
,
the Grateful Dead
The Grateful Dead was an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, folk, country, bluegrass, rock and roll, gospel, reggae, and world music with psyc ...
,
Janis Joplin
Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...
, and
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
.
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...
's live album ''
Tribute
A tribute (; from Latin ''tributum'', "contribution") is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of submission, allegiance or respect. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of lands which the state con ...
'' was recorded at Music Hall in May 1981. Canadian hard rock band
Triumph's live album ''
King Biscuit Flower Hour (In Concert)'' was recorded at Music Hall in October 1981. It also was the home for the
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...
Spring Tour performances between 1924 and 1983. Its use as a concert venue declined sharply after the completion of the
Wolstein Center at
Cleveland State University
Cleveland State University (CSU) is a public research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1964 and opened for classes in 1965 after acquiring the entirety of Fenn College, a private school that had been in oper ...
in 1991.
The annual
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...
induction ceremonies have been held in Public Auditorium several times. In April 2009, it hosted the 24th induction ceremonies, the first open to the public. On April 14, 2012, the facility hosted the Hall of Fame's 27th induction ceremonies. On April 18, 2015, the facility hosted the 30th anniversary induction ceremonies. On April 14, 2018, the facility hosted the 33rd anniversary induction ceremonies.
Public Auditorium was occasionally used as a home court for the
Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball
Cleveland State Vikings men's basketball is the men's college basketball team that represents Cleveland State University. Prior to rebranding from Fenn College, they were known as the Cleveland State Vikings, Fenn College Foxes. Cleveland State ha ...
team between 1981 and 1989 until the opening of the
Wolstein Center. The
Mid-American Conference women's basketball tournament was held in the auditorium in 2000, the tournament's first year in Cleveland. Public Hall hosted two athletic events in 2014, the first being a
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was cha ...
series between the United States and Italy in February, followed by the 2014
NCAA Division II Wrestling Championships in March.
The
Cleveland Charge of the
NBA G League
The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the Minor league#Basketball, developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of ...
announced on June 4, 2024, they would be moving their home games to Public Auditorium beginning with the 2024–25 season, leaving the nearby
Wolstein Center after three seasons.
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Convention centers in Ohio
Music venues in Cleveland
Sports venues in Cleveland
College basketball venues in Ohio
Downtown Cleveland
National Basketball League (United States) venues
Cleveland Allmen Transfers
Cleveland Chase Brassmen
1922 establishments in Ohio
Sports venues completed in 1922
1973 Davis Cup
NBA G League venues