The Mabel Shaw Bridges Music Auditorium, more commonly known as Bridges Auditorium or Big Bridges (to distinguish it from nearby Bridges Hall of Music, known as Little Bridges), is a 2,500-seat auditorium at Pomona College in Claremont, California, United States. It was designed by William Templeton Johnson and opened in 1932.
- Venue
- Bridges Auditorium
- Address
- 295 E. First Street
- Town
- Claremont, US
The Mabel Shaw Bridges Music Auditorium, more commonly known as Bridges Auditorium or Big Bridges (to distinguish it from nearby Bridges Hall of Music, known as Little Bridges), is a 2,500-seat auditorium at Pomona College in Claremont, California, United States. It was designed by William Templeton Johnson and opened in 1932. It hosts a variety of performances for the college and outside groups. The auditorium was built as a joint project of the Claremont Colleges consortium. It was sponsored by Appleton and Amelia (nee Timken) Bridges, the parents of Mabel Shaw Bridges, a student in Pomona's class of 1908 who died of illness in her junior year, and H.H. Timken, president of the Timken Roller Bearing Company. From its completion until the opening of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1964, it was arguably the premier destination of choice for prominent visitors to Southern California. It was also the largest collegiate auditorium on the West Coast, with a capacity nearly twice that of Pomona and equal to that of the city of Claremont. The Los Angeles Philharmonic frequently performed there. The auditorium was renovated from 1975 to 1977 for seismic retrofitting and cosmetic repairs. In 2007, control was transferred from the consortium to Pomona individually. In the 2020s, the college sought to renovate the auditorium to address shortcomings such as its lack of air conditioning ahead of its centennial. Pomona's 2015 master plan classifies Big Bridges as a "building notable for establishing the distinctive context" of the college, and describes it as a symbol of the college's regional civic engagement. A 2015 environmental impact report from the college identifies it as eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, although as of 2020 the college has not yet applied for it to be listed. John Neiuber, writing for the Claremont Courier in 2017, expressed surprise it is not listed. Big Bridges is the primary visual anchor point for the east side of Mar