Built in 1925, the Eagles Auditorium at Seventh Avenue and Union Street is one of Seattle's finest examples of the architectural use of terra-cotta tile.

	PAUL DORPAT

When new in 1925, their grand lodge at Seventh Avenue and Union Street was described as "a modification of Italian Renaissance, sufficiently ornamented to add to its beauty without being ostentatious." The architect, Henry Bittman, was a primary contributor to the inventory of terra-cotta landmarks Seattle was blessed with in the teens and '20s.

Although not dated, this view of the auditorium was probably taken when the founding "Mother Aerie" hosted the 1926 convention of the by-then-sizable national lodge.

Much of the Eagles Auditorium modern history has been given to rock-n-roll, first in the 1950s with Little Richard and Fats Domino. A five-year run of light-show concerts began with a disruption in 1967. Police "busted" a concert featuring the Emergency Exit and the Union Light Company, suspecting that the film loops and liquid projections of the Union Light Company simulated psychedelic consciousness in violation of a 1929 code prohibiting something called "shadow dancing."

In the early 1980s many punk, new-wave and early rap artists performed at what its promoters called the Eagles Hippodrome. The last rock concert in June 1983 featured the British band The Damned. Hippodrome manager Art Bernstein conceded the building needed a lot of renovation. It got it in the '80s with construction of the contiguous Convention Center, then with the $30 million-plus conversion of the lodge for A Contemporary Theater in 1997.

Vol. 1 and Vol. 3 of Paul Dorpat's books, "Seattle Now & Then," are $19.95 each from Tartu Publications, P.O. Box 85208, Seattle, WA 98145.