GPS City GuideLexingtonAlumni Gymnasium

Stop 33 of 33 · Lexington audio walking tour

Alumni Gymnasium

University of Kentucky campus · 1924 · 2,800-Seat Multi-Purpose Arena

What you'll hear here: about 90 seconds on Alumni Gymnasium — how it came to be, who it mattered to, and what to look for while you're standing in front of it.

On the corner of South Limestone Street and Avenue of Champions, or Euclid Avenue, beside the University of Kentucky Student Center, Alumni Gymnasium is now known as Alumni Gym Fitness Center. When it opened in 1924, replacing Alumni Hall (now known as Barker Hall and Buell Armory), it was a 2,800-seat multi-purpose arena and served as home to the UK Wildcats basketball team. The building cost $92,000 to construct and opened on what had been the site of a lake and swamp on the edge of the University of Kentucky campus.

It was replaced when Memorial Coliseum opened in 1950. The building later became a student recreation facility and was frequently used for recreational and intramural basketball. During this period it was home to the University of Kentucky Men's Club Basketball team, the University of Kentucky Club Dodgeball team, and the UK Men's Club Volleyball team.

The interior of the facility was gutted in 2017 as part of a project to renovate the university's student center, and the building reopened in 2018 as a student fitness center. Lake and swamp, then a 2,800-seat arena in 1924, now a student fitness center: the story of this corner is written in the Student Center beside it and the streets that meet here.

Where it is

Coordinates
38.04067, -84.50347
Area
University of Kentucky campus
Era
1924 · 2,800-Seat Multi-Purpose Arena
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