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| Location | Corpus Christi, Texas |
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| Coordinates | 27°47′14.6″N97°23′36.5″W / 27.787389°N 97.393472°W |
| Capacity | 3,000 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | September 26, 1954 |
| Closed | January 2010 |
| Demolished | June 2010 |
The Memorial Coliseum was an arena in Corpus Christi, Texas that had a capacity of about 3,000 which was demolished in June 2010.
The Coliseum was dedicated on September 26, 1954 to 400 men and women who gave their lives in World War II. The dedication was sponsored by the Gold Star Mothers of Texas and was attended by local, state and military officials. It is also notable that tejano music star Selena performed here on February 7, 1993 in a live concert which would later be released on CD as Selena Live! that also won a Grammy in 1994.
The Memorial Coliseum was an architecturally significant building of the Mid-Century modern style. Extremely well constructed, its footings were anchored into the original seabed, well below the 1940s fill. The curved roof contained 260 tons of structural steel in a lamella space frame (diamond shape design) with a thin concrete cover. This strong, yet light roof structure allowed for the barrel-shaped 224-foot unsupported span, which was the world’s longest when it was built. As an additional plus factor, this kind of construction keeps insurance costs low and maintenance over 40 years is lower than in traditional buildings.
The architect of Memorial Coliseum, Richard S. Colley, was Corpus Christi's local star in the world of architecture.
The original design included a comprehensive plan for a bayfront 'Civic Center' which would include a City Hall, an auditorium/coliseum, a medium-size exposition hall and two parks.
Colley's Coliseum design began attracting the attention of the national architectural community even before it was built. In January 1952, the ‘auditorium plan’ (Coliseum and Exposition Hall) was awarded the annual jury prize by Progressive Architecture for being “the most noteworthy submission among buildings for public use.” The entire complex (Coliseum, Exposition Hall and City Hall) were featured in a 16-page article in the February 1953 issue of Progressive Architecture which included photographs, floor plans and construction details.
In 1954, during the final construction phase of the Coliseum, Progressive Architecture featured the building again. Its lamella roof was pictured on the magazine’s cover and the related article discussed the design of the auditorium and included several photos of the building under construction.
In 1955, Memorial Coliseum was included in the “Building and Construction” section of the Encyclopædia Britannica Book-of-the-Year.
In 1958, the Coliseum was photographed for the Carnegie Study of the Arts of the United States by photographer John Waggaman. It was chosen because of its “significance in the history of American Architecture” and for its “successful merger of beauty and functionality.” A photograph of Memorial Coliseum was also displayed in the United States pavilion at Expo 58, the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair.
Both the unusual design and the innovative construction methods of Memorial Coliseum were featured in Engineering News-Record , Architectural Forum , United States Steel trade magazine, Time magazine, Architectural Record , Welding Arcs, L’architecture d’aujourd’hui (France), Techniques et Architecture (France) and Informes de la Construccion (Spain), just to name a few.
As of January 12, 2010 the Memorial Coliseum was scheduled to be demolished. [1] The coliseum was taken down by demolition June 30, 2010.
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and acquired French nationality by naturalization on 19 September 1930. His career spanned five decades, in which he designed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, as well as North and South America. He considered that "the roots of modern architecture are to be found in Viollet-le-Duc".
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Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, known mononymously as Selena, was an American singer. Referred to as the "Queen of Tejano Music", her contributions to music and fashion made her one of the most celebrated Mexican-American entertainers of the late 20th century. In 2020, Billboard magazine put her in third place on their list of "Greatest Latino Artists of All Time", based on both Latin albums and Latin songs chart. Media outlets called her the "Tejano Madonna" for her clothing choices. She also ranks among the most influential Latin artists of all time and is credited for catapulting the Tejano genre into the mainstream market.
Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County with portions extending into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. It is 130 miles (210 km) southeast of San Antonio and 208 miles (335 km) southwest of Houston. Its political boundaries encompass Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay. Its zoned boundaries include small land parcels or water inlets of three neighboring counties.
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Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor soccer, roller derby and major and minor league ice hockey teams.
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The American Bank Center is an entertainment complex located in Corpus Christi, Texas. The complex consists of an auditorium, convention center and arena. The facility hosts numerous conventions, trade shows, exhibitions, live performances and sporting events. It is home to the Corpus Christi IceRays Tier II Jr. A ice hockey team and the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders men's and women's NCAA basketball teams. It is owned by the city of Corpus Christi and managed by ASM Global.
S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-American Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois.
CHRISTUS Spohn Hospital Corpus Christi - Memorial was a 465-bed hospital in Corpus Christi, Texas that was part of the CHRISTUS Spohn Health System, operated by CHRISTUS Health. It ceased all operations in September 2022, and was demolished in April 2023.
SMG, formerly Spectacor Management Group, was an American worldwide venue management group headquartered in West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, that specialized in managing publicly owned facilities. It began their operation in 1977 with management of the Louisiana Superdome. It was one of the largest property management corporations in the world.
Marion Fresenius Fooshee was an American architect active in the Dallas, Texas (USA) area.
Roy Miller High School is a public high school located in the city of Corpus Christi, Texas, United States and classified as a 5A school by the UIL. It is a part of the Corpus Christi Independent School District. The school was known as Corpus Christi High School until 1950. It is the oldest high school in the city.
The Corpus Christi Harbor Bridge is a through arch bridge in Corpus Christi, Texas, that carries six lanes of U.S. Route 181 (US 181) and Texas State Highway 35 (SH 35) from downtown Corpus Christi to Rincon Point, known to locals as North Beach. The bridge crosses the Corpus Christi Ship Channel and handles nearly 26,000 vehicles daily. A new bridge called the New Harbor Bridge is under construction. When complete, it will allow larger ships to pass beneath, permit safer pedestrian transit, and reconfigure the highway interchange system in the surrounding community.
The Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Coliseum is a multi-purpose auditorium and meeting space in downtown Evansville, Indiana.
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Arthur Fehr, F.A.I.A. was an American architect who turned in mid-career from his traditional architectural education to the Modern or International style and was one of its first practitioners in Texas.
The Harbor Bridge Project is the replacement of the existing through arch bridge that crosses the Corpus Christi Ship Channel, which serves the Port of Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi, Texas, with a modern cable-stayed bridge design. The route will connect with SH 286 at its southern terminus and US 181 on the north. Groundbreaking on construction took place on August 8, 2016 and was scheduled to be completed by the spring of 2020, but was extensively delayed due to engineering and design issues, and is tentatively planned to be completed in 2025.
Lev Zetlin was an Israeli-American civil and structural engineer. Founder of the engineering consulting firm Lev Zetlin & Associates, he developed several innovations in structural engineering including the double layer bicycle wheel roof system which he first employed at the Utica Memorial Auditorium and later patented. Zetlin was the structural engineer on 14 pavilions at the 1964–65 New York World's Fair including the New York State Pavilion which utilized his double layer cable suspended roof design.
Roberto Elizondo is an American former professional boxer of Mexican descent. Elizondo competed in the sport of professional boxing from 1977 to 1987, and he fought for the World Boxing Council's world Lightweight title twice, both times challenging unsuccessfully. Elizondo, from Corpus Christi, Texas, is a member of the Corpus Christi Boxing Hall of Fame.
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