After reading the pros and cons of this issue, there is only one thing that bothers me about the demolition of the auditorium.
Traditionally it has been the place where most high school and college graduations take place. Central and Girls used to use the Academy of Music for this ceremony and may still, but it isn't really large enough to accomodate the family and friends of the graduates.
What other auditorium in the city is large enough to perform this function?
Never "most" -- always, only "a few." (And, I don't believe that "any" have taken place there in the past 5 or possibly 10 years, since the facility was closed.) Penn hasn't used it for many, many years simply because it is way too small. I don't believe that Temple has ever used it, nor Textile, nor Jefferson. I don't think that Drexel or Pharmacy ever used it, but they might have. To the best of my knowledge, none of the Catholic High Schools in the City have ever used it.
The Municipal Auditorium (Civic Center) was abandoned by the City of Philadelphia because it is too small for almost anything BUT a couple of the smaller, "large" graduation events. It was abandoned by Philadelphia Professional Basketball (long before the 76rs) for the same reason that Franklin Field was abandoned by the Eagles -- the facility was simply too small AND nobody could get to it without day long traffic jams (not to mention the lack of parking).
The New Convention Center was built for just such purposes. I believe that the Train Shed itself is larger than the Convention Center (square footage wise). There is far more parking available at the New Convention Center than could ever be built anywhere near the Municipal Auditorium. And there are traffic patterns and public transportation to whisk people in and out with a minimum of disruption to the rest of the activities of the City. [I know all this is true because I read it in a Convention Center brochure.]
BTW: The Kimmel is smaller than the Academy by something like 400 seats.
From the 72 Bulletin Almanac, seating capacity:
Municipal Auditorium 11,667
The Academy 2,921
The Kimmel 2,547
The Spectrum 17,500
Franklin Field 60,546
The Link 68,532
Citizens Bank Park 43,500
The Arena 7,226
The Vet 56,371 baseball 65,352 football
JFK Stadium 73,703 permanent seats; 102,210 for Army / Navy games
The PA Convention Center Ballroom (Second Floor of the Train Shed) seats 3,360 and is the second largest Ballroom in the Commonwealth. (Ballroom = pretty carpet on the floor).
The Train Shed (Grand Hall) itself is about the same size - 30,000 square feet.
The exhibit halls -- A 10,000 (Can be combined with B and C to make
B 6,000 one room - 22,000)
C 6,000
D 6,000 (downstairs)Additionally, there are large ballrooms in several of the downtown hotels.
T.T.F.N. William H. Magill [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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