Picture Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington all performing inside this 1930 Columbia auditorium. It was built in 1930 and sits as a civic landmark that still seats 3,072 for standard concert seating and 3,383 with general admission floor seating. The auditorium was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005 and in 2009 underwent a complete renovation and modernization that saw the architects and facility win national awards for historic preservation and renovation.
In its early years the facility was a major tour stop in the Southeast US, with everyone performing there, including Count Basie & His Orchestra in 1939; Louis Armstrong in 1940 (for $1.20 a ticket) and 1944; Ella Fitzgerald in 1941; Duke Ellington in 1951 with Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughan; Elvis Presley, Bill Haley & His Comets with Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry in 1956; Florida's Ray Charles and The Isley Brothers in 1960; Johnny Cash, Peter, Paul, & Mary, and The Supremes in 1963; Augusta's James Brown in 1965; and Macon's Otis Redding. Notice the Doric columned portico still crowning this Georgian Revival brick auditorium.