Keller Auditorium, formerly known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium, the Portland Public Auditorium, and the Portland Civic Auditorium, is a performing arts center located on Clay Street in Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Portland's Centers for the Arts.
- Venue
- Keller Auditorium
- Address
- 5, 1111 SW Broadway Ave
- Town
- Portland, US
Keller Auditorium, formerly known as the Portland Municipal Auditorium, the Portland Public Auditorium, and the Portland Civic Auditorium, is a performing arts center located on Clay Street in Downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Portland's Centers for the Arts. Opened in 1917, the venue first changed names in 1966, being renamed again in 2000 in honor of a $1.5 million renovation donation by Richard B. Keller. An extensive remodeling and modernization in 1967-68 effectively changed its original exterior appearance beyond recognition. Originally holding 4,500 people, the venue now has a capacity of 3,034. The Keller Auditorium is the home of many performances of the Portland Opera and the Oregon Ballet Theatre. It was the longtime home of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (now the Oregon Symphony), from 1917 to 1984. It also housed the Oregon Historical Society and its museum from 1917 to 1965. The auditorium building occupies an entire city block in downtown Portland, bounded by Third and Second Avenues and Clay and Market Streets. The site had previously been occupied by the Portland Mechanics' Pavilion, built in 1879. The new hall was constructed in 1916-17 from designs by New York architects Joseph H. Freelander and A.D. Seymour, with local associate architects Whitehouse & Fouilhoux. Originally known as the Public Auditorium, or alternatively Municipal Auditorium, the facility's formal opening and dedication took place on July 4, 1917, and the first full concert took place the following day, with what was dubbed the first annual Portland "Music Festival", featuring the Portland Symphony Orchestra (now the Oregon Symphony). Another longtime tenant of the auditorium building was the Oregon Historical Society, whose headquarters and museum were located in the building for almost five decades. The society moved from the Tourny Building in 1917, occupying space on the second and third floors. In the early 1960s, the historical society approved p