The fate of a Worcester auditorium memorializing the lives given by veterans in World War I hangs in the balance.

The Worcester Memorial Auditorium, where the likes of Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones once rocked, has been largely unused since 2006, when the city’s Juvenile Court moved out of the building’s basement.

But a recent effort by the nonprofit Preservation Worcester sparked renewed interest in the massive property at the corner of Grove Street and Institute Road, which opened in 1933 and is owned by the city. Early last month, the group held a fundraiser, the AUD Ball, at the five-story auditorium, bringing more than 500 guests into the hall.

The party renewed local concern for the historic and hulking edifice, which is listed, along with other Lincoln Square properties, on the National Register of Historic Places as part of Worcester’s Institutional District, according to Deborah Packard, the nonprofit’s executive director. The building, which has not been used as a concert hall since about 1997, is now primarily city storage space, Packard said.     

“We’d like to see it remain intact and have some kind of life in it,” Packard offered.

But there hasn’t been much life in the building since the Worcester Centrum, now known as the DCU Center, became a more popular entertainment venue, Packard explained. After 1997, when a convention center addition and renovations of the arena’s infrastructure were completed, the auditorium became essentially silent.

A New Beginning?

On the night of June’s AUD Ball, however, the property spoke to many residents, not the least of which was Leonard Morse. Morse was born in Worcester 84 years ago. After leaving the city for a period of time, he returned to his birthplace as a physician, and from 2001 to 2011 served as the commissioner of public health for the state’s second largest city.   

Morse is envisioning a use of the property that’s perhaps more ambitious than other potential reuse plans that have come before. One plan included the Higgins Armory Museum, which had proposed relocating to the auditorium. The group decided a roughly $40 million price tag that would have been required for the move and renovations to the building was too big a pill to swallow.

Then there was the idea to create a Faneuil Hall-like marketplace at the 2.5-acre property, as well as one for a research and development space to complement the life sciences campus Worcester Polytechnic Institute has created at nearby Gateway Park.

Instead, Morse, who was heavily involved in the successful efforts to preserve the clock tower that was the landmark of Worcester State Hospital since 1875, wants the auditorium to become an international center dedicated to forwarding the cause of world peace, where an eternal flame would forever burn.

“It would be a place where people can come from around the world to pause, to pray or meditate, whatever their spiritual beliefs are, and envision a world without war,” Morse said. “I’m sure someone could find nations to come forward that want to be partners in such an endeavor. This would be a small investment, especially compared to what nations spend on defense.”

While it might seem like a stretch, the American artist Leon Kroll painted a large mural in the auditorium, about 57 feet by 30 feet, “that is a tribute to people of all classes and races gathered in peace and harmony under the American flag,” said Preservation Worcester’s Packard. So Morse’s proposal is certainly in step with the spirit of the property.

Either way, Packard said, in the end, it is essential there be some reuse for the property. She has envisioned a museum, maybe a sculpture museum. Or, since there are so many colleges and universities in and around the city, maybe together they could purchase the auditorium for functions and conferences or other events.

“I don’t see the space lending well to a retail or business use,” Packard opined.

Reality Bites

The city of Worcester is the auditorium’s owner, and it has grown weary of maintaining the aging building. So officials were trying to unload the auditorium to private developers in a package deal with other unused municipal buildings in the immediate vicinity.

But now the auditorium sale has been put on hold as the state’s real estate arm attempts to find a solution to the redevelopment issues surrounding the nearby former Worcester County Courthouse. The state Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) in early 2011 canceled an auction of the courthouse building. Now, the commonwealth is in the process of authorizing funding to address environmental and structural challenges at the property to position it better in the marketplace, according to information provided by the office of Timothy McGourthy, Worcester’s chief development officer.

In fact, the city has decided to hold off altogether on the sale of the auditorium until the courthouse has been redeveloped, or at least scheduled for redevelopment, according to information from McGourthy’s office. There is currently no sale price estimated for the hall. While no specific ideal reuses were identified, there is no possibility it will be retained as a music or entertainment venue, as the DCU Center, Hanover Theater and other venues fulfill those needs, according to McGourthy’s office.

Email: jcronin@thewarrengroup.com