Tulsa Convention Hall

(#30 on site map)

National Register Listed: Yes

"The Old Lady of Brady," as this building gradually came to be called, was billed as the largest hall between Kansas City and Houston. This convention hall accommodated Tulsa's first grand opera, the first International Petroleum Exposition in 1923, and the flood of refugees from Tulsa's infamous Race Riot of 1921.

The convention hall was built at a cost of $125,000. It is a four-story, barn-like building of steel, masonry and brick, measuring 130 x 160 feet overall. Seating capacity was approximately 4,200 people, including 1,400 in the balcony. The stage was 70 feet wide and 40 feet deep with a 50 x 20 foot proscenium arch. Unusual features of the hall include a 13-foot forward slope to the stage and jacks or "screws" that raised the floor at the back of the auditorium. Both were designed to create better sightlines between theater performers and theater-goers.

When completed, the Convention Hall was hailed as a magnificent building boasting the only municipal pipe organ west of the Allegheny Mountains and paid for by popular subscription.

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