Utica Memorial Auditorium

The Utica Memorial Auditorium is a 3,860-seat multi-purpose arena in Utica, New York, with a capacity of 5,700 for concerts. Nicknamed the Aud, it is the home arena of the Utica Comets, the AHL affiliate of the NHL's Vancouver Canucks.HistoryThe Utica Memorial Auditorium was conceived by then-Utica mayor John T. McKennan, who believed that the city needed a place for entertainment and sporting events. McKennan and the administration that he hired to plan out the process, led by Frank M. Romano, than hired Gilbert Seltzer, a well known architect at that time, to draw up plans for the building. A site was found along the old Erie Canal, and groundbreaking took place April 15, 1957. The arena was constructed using the world’s first pre-stressed dual cable roof system, designed by Lev Zetlin (who would later partner with architect Philip Johnson to construct both the New York State Pavilion "Tent of Tomorrow" seen at the 1964 World’s Fair and the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, also located in Utica, NY) with "struts" between the cables. John A. Roebling’s Sons Company developed the tensioning method for the project. Zetlin's design became the predecessor to the many modern dome designs seen today, and has since influenced many other tensile structures including Madison Square Garden. Seltzer would take the most pride in constructing "The Aud", saying, “This was the first successful use of cables for a roof structure.”"The Aud" was also one of the first stadiums to have telescopic seats. Telescopic bleachers (the bleachers pulled out from below higher levels) were common in stadiums, but Zetlin requested more comfortable seating for the arena.