Одиссея Одитории: От Театра до Мемориала Малкольма Икс

Former theater and ballroom in Manhattan, New York

The Audubon Theatre and Ballroom, generally referred to as the Audubon Ballroom, was a theatre and ballroom located at 3940 Broadway at West 165th Street in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It was built in 1912 and was designed by Thomas W. Lamb. The theatre was known at various times as the William Fox Audubon Theatre, the Beverly Hills Theater, and the San Juan Theater. The ballroom is noted for being the site of the assassination of Malcolm X on February 21, 1965. It is currently the Audubon Business and Technology Center, which is part of Columbia University's Audubon Research Park.

The Audubon Ballroom was built in 1912 by film producer William Fox, who later founded the Fox Film Corporation. Fox hired Thomas W. Lamb, one of the foremost American theater architects, to design the building. The building contained a theatre with 2500 seats, and a second floor ballroom that could accommodate 200 seated guests. During its history, the Audubon Ballroom was used as a vaudeville house, a movie theater, and a meeting hall where political activists often met. At around the same time, several trade unions, including the Municipal Transit Workers, the IRT Brotherhood Union, and the Transport Workers' Union, utilized the meeting rooms. Among the many events held at the Ballroom was the annual New York Mardi Gras Festival. They were also unable to persuade the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a hearing on giving the building landmark status. a public private partnership between Columbia University Medical Center and the New York state and city governments. In return, two thirds of the Audubon Ballroom's original facade – the part along Broadway and West 165th Street – would be preserved and restored. In addition, a portion of the interior ballroom where Malcolm X was killed was restored and protected, to be made into a museum honoring him. In 2005, the Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational Center opened in the lobby to commemorate the contributions Malcolm X made to the civil rights movement.

Architect Thomas Lamb, who later would design the nearby eclectic United Palace, was an advocate of the use of ornamentation and color on his building's exteriors. He would write: "Exotic ornaments, colors and scenes are particularly effective in creating an atmosphere in which the mind is free to frolic and becomes receptive to entertainment." In line with this philosophy, the facade of the Audubon Ballroom presents terra cotta glazed polychromy, encrustations and cornices. Its ornamentations include brown foxes between the windows on the second floor, intended to flatter Fox, and, most prominently, a colorful protruding three dimensional statue of Neptune on a ship. Alterations to the building in 1996 were made by the architecture firm of Davis Brody Bond, who also designed Columbia University's new building, while the restoration of the facade was handled by preservation specialist Jan Hird Pokorny.