Charles Barton Keen designed the R. J. Reynolds Memorial Auditorium. This building was built between 1919 and 1924 under the direction of architect Charles Barton Keen, the same designer who created the R. J. Reynolds estate, Reynolda House, and who also designed the adjacent Richard J. Reynolds High School. Both the auditorium and the high school are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The auditorium sits on a tract once known as "Silver Hill" — a 28-acre (110,000 m2) parcel that now includes the school, Hanes Park (named for the founder of the Hanes Clothing Company and then-mayor James G. Hanes), the Calvin H. Wiley Middle School, and the Winston-Salem Central YMCA. Today the auditorium is operated jointly by the administration of Richard J. Reynolds High School and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools; an auditorium manager is hired to handle day-to-day operations and scheduling. It remains one of the oldest and largest performing arts centers in the city, able to seat 1,898 people — 857 on the main orchestra level and 1,041 in the mezzanine and balcony.
Picture this auditorium, the adjacent high school, and Hanes Park spreading across the old Silver Hill tract.