Harrison Auditorium, North Carolina A&T State University – Greensboro NC

Description

Richard B. Harrison Auditorium, part of the campus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, was constructed in 1939 with the assistance of federal Public Works Administration funds. The building, which has since been expanded, is still in use today.

A National Register of Historic Places registration form states:

“This rectangular, flat-roofed two-story building with a full basement at the rear was constructed in 1939 by the Federal Works Agency, Public Works Administration for use as the university’s main auditorium. According to a lobby plaque, Leon McMinn was the architect and H. L. Coble, the contractor. The building stands close to the sidewalk and is shaded by mature dogwoods and oaks. Ornamentation on this austere building is confined to the seven-bay main entrance with the bays defined by plain brick pilasters with simply molded stone bases and capitals. Extending above the pilasters is a plain stone frieze incised with the auditorium’s name. Five pairs of glass and wood doors topped by five-light transoms give access to the lobby. Above each entry door at the second story level are large twelve-over-twelve sash windows. The roof line steps up at the rear of the lobby/entrance portion of the building to provide additional height to the main, large auditorium portion of the building. On the interior, the lobby is very plain with linoleum floor and a small, horseshoe-shaped box office outlined by simply molded wooden trim. The auditorium seats approximately 1,000 (twenty-five rows on the ground floor and ten rows in the shallow balcony). The upholstered seats are arranged in three sections (two aisles). A shallow floor level orchestra pit with a molded railing is located below the rectangular proscenium. A variety of offices are located on the first and second stories at the rear of the building. The auditorium is named for Richard Berry Harrison, who taught drama and directed plays at the university during the 1920s and 1930s. Harrison is best known, however, for his role as ‘De Lawd’ in the long-running Broadway play Green Pastures by Eugene O’Neill. The university’s present dramatic organization, The Richard B. Harrison Players, is named to honor the teacher and actor.”