Macky Auditorium (1921)

When President Baker commissioned the architects for Macky Auditorium, he asked them to harmonize an assortment of elements, but to design "something different." Macky took 13 years to complete.

Ground was broken in 1909 after Andrew J. Macky (1834–1907), president of the First National Bank in Boulder, left $300,000 to build an auditorium. When Macky’s will was contested, construction halted. The magnificent shell of an auditorium stood empty for years, without doors or windows, victim to the howling western winds. Even after the will was settled, Macky’s amber glass windows and carved plaster ornamentation required several years for completion. Wooden planks served as benches until seats were installed in 1922.

Macky was the main administration building from its completion until the 1960s.

In 1985, a major renovation turned the old auditorium into Boulder’s premiere concert hall, home to the CU Artist Series and the Boulder Philharmonic Orchestra.