Boardwalk Hall
Boardwalk Hall in 2014 | |
Interactive map of Boardwalk Hall | |
| Former names | Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall |
|---|---|
| Address | 2301 Boardwalk |
| Location | Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Owner | Casino Reinvestment Development Authority |
| Operator | Spectra |
| Capacity | 14,770 |
| Public transit | NJ Transit bus: 505, 507, 508, 509 (at Atlantic Avenue) |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1929 |
| Tenants | |
| Atlantic City Seagulls (EAHL) 1930–1942 Atlantic City Seagulls (EAHL) 1947–1952 Boardwalk Bowl (NCAA) 1961–1973 Liberty Bowl (NCAA) 1964 Knute Rockne Bowl (NCAA) 1970–1972 Atlantic City Seagulls (USBL) 1996–2001 Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies (ECHL) 2001–2005 Atlantic City CardSharks (NIFL) 2004 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament (NCAA) 2007–2012 ECAC Men’s Ice Hockey Tournament (NCAA) 2011–2013 Atlantic City Blackjacks (AFL) 2019 MAAC Men's Basketball Tournament (NCAA) 2021–present MAAC Women's Basketball Tournament (NCAA) 2021–present | |
| Website | |
| boardwalkhall | |
Boardwalk Hall | |
| Coordinates | 39°21′18″N 74°26′19″W / 39.35500°N 74.43861°W |
| Built | 1926 |
| Architect | Lockwood, Greene & Co. |
| Architectural style | Romanesque revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 87000814 |
| No parameter No. | 390 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | February 27, 1987 |
| Designated NHL | February 27, 1987 |
| Designated No parameter | March 2, 1993 |
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Built from 1926 to 1929, it was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the new Atlantic City Convention Center in 1997. Boardwalk Hall was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987 as one of the few surviving buildings from the city's early heyday as a seaside resort.
Boardwalk Hall seats 14,770 people at maximum capacity, while accommodating a reduced capacity of 10,500 for ice hockey.
The venue contains the world's largest musical instrument, a pipe organ with over 33,000 pipes, eight chambers, the world's largest console with seven manuals and over 1200 stop tabs, and one of two 64-foot (20 m) stops (the other found in the Sydney Town Hall). Also included in this organ are pipes operating on 100 inches of pressure, the Grand Ophicleide being the loudest and also most famous. The Guinness Book of World Records noted "a pure trumpet note of ear-splitting volume, six times louder than the loudest train whistle." However, these stops are actually well-refined and are not overpowering in Boardwalk Hall due to its huge interior.
In 2018, New Jersey approved legislation to dedicate Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall in honor of Jim Whelan, a former mayor and state senator who died in 2017. The hall's Adrian Phillips Theater is named for a former president of the Miss America Organization.
The Miss America Pageant, founded in 1921 in Atlantic City, was held at Boardwalk Hall from 1940 until 2004. The Pageant returned to the hall in 2013 and was last used for Miss America 2019.
Boardwalk Hall hosted the August 1964 Democratic National Convention that nominated U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson as the Democratic Party's candidate for the 1964 U.S. presidential election, nine months after the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, in November 1963.
Stockton University currently utilizes Boardwalk Hall for undergraduate degree recipient ceremonies each year in May.