B. N. Duke Auditorium (NCCU) – Durham NC

Description

B. N. Duke Auditorium at North Carolina Central University, a historically black college, was constructed as part of a federal Public Works Administration (PWA) project during the Great Depression. The building is located on the east side of Fayetteville Road just south of E. Lawson St. The building has since been expanded. It retrains its perfectly preserved art deco interior.

A National Register of Historic Places nomination form states:
“Completed 1937 as part of the Public Works Administration building campaign. The focal point of the flat-roofed building with English bond brick elevations is the two-story frame portico supported by stream-lined Corinthian columns that shelters the three identical entrance. … The auditorium seats 900 and is named in honor of one of the school’s major benefactors, whose contributions and bequest totalled approximately $125,000. The austere one-story flat-roofed band room built in 1960 is attached to the north side of the auditorium; it has English bond brick exterior walls, skylights, and no windows.”