Farm Show Arena – Harrisburg PA

Description

This PWA building is the “large arena” just off Cameron St. in the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center.

“The new arena is of sufficient size to accommodate all livestock judging, with several classes being judged at the same time. The building is 346 by 230 feet in plan and the arena is 240 by 120 feet, with semicircular ends. The permanent seating, which rises in an unbroken ring around the arena, accommodates 8,250. The arena itself, when the hall is being used for conventions, seats 4,250 in temporary seats, thus providing a maximum capacity of 12,500. When the hall is used for boxing or wrestling exhibitions, the seating capacity is 12,000. Temporary seats are stored underneath the permanent seats.

The construction is fireproof. The steel bow trusses are 224 feet between walls and support precast concrete slabs on which composition roofins is applied. The exterior walls are face brick trimmed with rubbed concrete. The volume of the building is 6,760,000 cubic feet. The project, except for the Meeting Rooms, was completed in December 1938 at a construction cost of $1,105,423 and a project cost of $1,196,343.”