The Philadelphia Convention Hall and Civic Center, commonly known simply as the Philadelphia Civic Center, was a convention center complex located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It developed out of a series of buildings dedicated to expanding trade which began with the National Export Exhibition in 1899. The two most significant buildings in the complex were the original main exhibition hall built in 1899, which later housed the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, and the Municipal Auditorium, later called the Convention Hall, which was built in 1931 to the designs of architect Philip H. Johnson. The site was host to national political conventions in 1900, 1936, 1940 and 1948.
Location
The Convention Hall arena was located at 3400 Civic Center Boulevard, on the edge of the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, and just to the southwest of Franklin Field. It was built in 1930 and its highest capacity was approximately 12,000. The building was an Art Deco landmark, notable for its many friezes and other decorative aspects.
President Lyndon B. Johnson spoke at a campaign appearance on October 29, 1964, at Convention Hall. He appeared at the Hall alongside many notable Philadelphia and Pennsylvania Democratic leaders.[2] Four days later, The Beatles played the venue on September 2, 1964, during their first tour of the United States. Tickets went on sale in May 1964 and sold out within 90 minutes.[3] The Rolling Stones played Convention Hall on May 1, 1965, during their third American tour.[4]
Convention Hall was torn down in 2005, after more than a decade without a regular tenant. The 1996 Atlantic 10 Men's basketball tournament was the last event ever held there (its convention functions were taken over by the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the city's central business district); prior to this, it also hosted college basketball in the form of the 1986 MEAC men's basketball tournament. Afterwards, it served as a soundstage for movies and the TV series Hack starring David Morse. The championship fight scenes in the 1990 movie Rocky V was shot there.
The Auditorium's M.P. Moller 86-rank pipe organ, built in 1931, was removed just prior to the building's demolition and placed in Pennsylvania Hall in temporary storage. In October 2006 the organ was donated to the University of Oklahoma's American Organ Institute where it was partially installed into the Sharp Hall. The Institute however was disbanded in 2019[5] and the uninstalled pipework sold.[6]
One limestone frieze that adorned the Civic Center, 5 feet (1.5 m) tall and 48 feet (15 m) long and depicting the history of labor from the days of the ancient Egyptians to the 20th century, was carefully removed before the building was demolished.[7] It was purchased by the Alessi Organization in 2005 and in 2017 was installed outside its new Crossing Shopping Center at East 22nd Street and Route 440 in Bayonne, New Jersey.[8]
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