Picture 2,500 seats filling this National Register-listed arena in the heart of downtown Burlington. Built in 1927–28 to the designs of local architect Frank Lyman Austin, it has long been operated by the Burlington Department of Parks and Recreation. Imagine the scale: as a convention center it offers 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) of flexible space, its main room anchored by a 27-by-80-foot proscenium stage, with two smaller event spaces tucked inside for gatherings both intimate and public.
The building was conceived as a memorial to Burlington’s native sons who had fought in all American wars up to that point, and especially the First World War; during Dr. Clarence Beecher’s mayoral administration of 1925–29 the city redeveloped a significant portion of its downtown for this purpose. As of 1925 the city had no commemorative markers for those who served, a fact noted by John L. Southwick, editor of the Burlington Free Press. Do note that since 2016 the Auditorium has been deemed structurally unsafe and closed to the public while the city determines how to renovate and bring it up to modern building codes.
Since 2016 this memorial has sat closed to you, waiting for a renovation that meets modern codes.