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Wednesday, June 19, 1991 / University Daily Kansan
Hoch Auditorium: Past and Future
KU scrambles to adjust to fire
Structural engineers from Finney and Turnipseed, a Topeka company are lowered into Hoch to inspect the rear wall for structural damage.
By Eric Swanson
Kansan staff writer
KU administrators and concert- series officials are busy juggling classes, and University-scheduled events. The university was patted by a fire Saturday.
Administrators have ruled out off-campus sites as replacements for Hoc because many students have classes scheduled immediately after school, best times for classes, bad times for Carothers, associate deeds of liberal arts and sciences.
He said Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union, Swantow recital Incthal Murphy Hall, and the Lewis Auditorium when he was suggested as possible classrooms.
Eight classes were scheduled to meet in Hoch Auditorium this fall and will be held in the auditorium.
Physics 114, Psychology 360 and 406,
Sociology 104, Chemistry 624 and 625,
and a combined class of History 129
and American Studies 100.
Carothers said every effort was being made to keep classes at the same times.
"If someone is enrolled in Psychology 360 at 10:30, we hope he will be able to accommodate Psychology 360 at 10:30." he said.
Stephen Anderson, chairperson of the music and dance department, said the department would need new rehearsal space for the classes of Concert Worship Ensemble, University Band and University Band.
"We are trying to solve our problems of displacement, but people are also looking to us to solve their problems of displacement." he said.
"Whatever we do is going to be very uncomfortable for someone."
KU officials also are struggling to find new locations for events other than classes. Several concerts and the play will be presented in Hoch this year.
Peter Thompson, dean of fine arts, said seven out of 17 events in the 1991-92 Concert and New Directions series had been scheduled in Hoch. These included a Sept. 28 concert by singers Frederica von Stade and Dudley and an Oct. 15 performance by the Ballet Folklorico de Mexico.
Thompson said performing arts centers in Topeka and North County had volunteered their facilities as alternative locations.
"We're looking at all these options because each performance presents
a slightly different problem," he said. "We'd prefer to keep the events in Lawrence, but we'll go wherever we have to go."
Charla Jenkins, director of public relations for KU performing arts, said the concert series had received about 100 season-ticket orders so far.
No one has called to request a refund yet, she said.
Jenkins said that no matter what changes were made, the concerts series would not be canceled.
Concert series officials are not the only ones forced to reschedule a music department of music and dance also will be retraining for new performance locations.
Vespers, the department's Christmas program, traditionally has been performed in Hoch.
Metal support frames are all that remain of the seats in Hoch Auditorium Metal support beams and dabri laystrum e
Basketball shoes, ballet slippers danced in Hoch
Auditorium served its purpose despite problems and shortcomings
By Jeff Meesev
Kansan staff writer
Despite some of its problems, 64-year-old Hoch Auditorium is being remembered for many of the events it took place there before its demise.
"People look at it now and say it's not built well and it does have不好 acoustics, but it served its purpose very well," said Steve Jansen, director of the Watkins Community Museum, 1047 Massachusetts St. "The development of Hoch was important for opera, orchestras and other performances at KU. It was the Lied Center of its day and age."
Hoch Auditorium was gutted Saturday afternoon by a fire caused by a bolt of lightning. Hoch was scheduled to be converted into library space and classrooms when money became available. The Lied Center, presently built, was meant to replace Hoch in 1983. KU's main performing arts center.
Recently, groups such as the Lyric Opera of Kansas City have refused to
play in Hoch because of inadequacies such as a lack of dressing-room space.
Andre Previn, an orchestra director, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performed in blue jeans and T-shirts because no room was available backstage for their wardrobe cases.
'Basketball to ballet'
Katie Armitage, who helped compile "On the Hill," a book about the history of the University of Kansas, said, "It certainly had tremendous shortcomings as a performing-arts center. It's just the memory of the buildings and various functions it has held since 1927 that made it special."
One of the first memories that came to her after she learned of the Hoch fire was the memorial service conducted there two days after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.
"It was an audience full of very somber people," Armitage said.
Kennedy spoke in the auditorium when he was a Massachusetts senator in 1957.
She said she also had happier memories of Hoch, including registering for classes, and attending a poetry reading and dance performances there.
"It was the auditorium, from basketball to ballet" she said.
Dennis Farney, president of the Historic Mount Oread Fund, recalled the time in the early 1960s that former Chancellor W. Charke Wescoe graduated from University in the auditorium. Wescoe was outlining his goals for KU.
"He said KU would become the Harvard on the Kaw,'" Farney said. "That was a little ambitious."
Sandra Wiechert, who works with the Kansas State Historical Society, said one special memory she had of Hoch was when the scholarship halls won the Hock Chalk Revue there on son was part of the group that won.
She also remembered going to the auditorium for annual Christmas parties with the Cub Scouts and Girl Scouts.
"They were held even back to the 40s," Weichert said. "They always had a Santa Claus and trees. It will be cold this winter, they have to have the parties in the future."
Wiechert said she was standing at Wescoe Hall when lightning struck Hoch.
"It was a feeling of wonder and horror, like 'I can't believe this is happening.'" she said. "Once Irealized that it wasn't once it would be difficult to save it."
'Horrible Hoch'
Hoch was dedicated in 1927 with the help of $25,000 from the Kansas Legislature. When completed, it teated nearly 4,000 and cost $317,800.
The building was named after Edward Hoch of Daville, Ky. He was elected to the Kansas House in 1888 and became speaker of the House in 1883. He was governor from 1905 to 1909.
Hoch originally was intended for musical and dramatic performances, as well as a lecture hall and a temporary place for the basketball team to play. The team, however, played there for 28 seasons, with the 1952 team winning the national championship.
The Jayhawks had a 33-game home-court winning streak from 1951 to 1955, the second longest in its history. Hoch gained a reputation
with opposing teams as impossible to win in because of its interior design.
But Forrest "Phog" Allen said in 1955, "Players don't look at those arches and organ lofts when they're shooting. They look at the basket."
It became known as "Horrible Hoch" and the "Hostile Opera House," especially during its final years as a basketball arena.
Although the interior is now in ruins, Farney said the Historic Mount Oread Fund was urging that fort be made to preserve the facade.
"Architecturally, when you can artistically marry a new building with an old, it can be very exciting," he said. "The front is absolutely crucial to save. It is a key part of the campus." It is part of the beauty of the campus.
Wiechert had Hoch was not on the National or State Historic registers. Dyche, Spooner and Lippincott halls are known to have officially recognized on the register.
A Brief History of Hoch Auditorium: 1927 - 1991
First basketball practice Dec. 6, 1927 First basketball game Dec. 16, 1927 Basketball moved to Allen Field House March 1, 1955 Memorial for J.F.K. Nov. 25, 1963 Bob Marley played 1979 Tom Wolfe, author, spoke 1987 Lightning causes more than $12.8 million damage to Hoch June 15, 1991 Dedicated Oct. 14, 1927 First Christmas Vespers Dec. 12, 1927 Largest curtain of its time installed in 1949 (weighed 1.5 tons) Sen. John F. Kennedy spoke Nov. 7, 1957 Bill Cosby concert April 4, 1968 R.E.M. played 1984 Angela Davis, Activist, spoke 1990
Hoch Auditorium as it appeared before a fire gutted the building Saturday.
Photograph courtesy of University Archiva
Fire and police officials speak with passersby at a barricade in front of Hoch Auditorium.
Patrick G. Brungardt/Special to the KANSAN