Curtis Hixon Hall
Coordinates: 27°56′57″N 82°27′43″W / 27.94917°N 82.46194°W
Curtis Hixon Hall was an indoor sports arena, convention center, concert venue, and special events center which was located at 600 Ashley Drive along the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, Florida. It opened in 1965, and was the primary concert, indoor sports, and civic gathering place for the city of Tampa for about twenty years. The construction of newer and more specialized facilities around town during the 1980s gradually reduced the number of events held at Curtis Hixon Hall, and the opening of the much larger Tampa Convention Center in 1990 made it obsolete.
Curtis Hixon Hall was demolished in 1993, and the land was converted into a public park. The park was redesigned and incorporated into the Tampa Riverwalk in 2010, and the facility's former footprint is now home to the Tampa Museum of Art, the Glazer Children’s Museum, and the northern portions of Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park.
The Hall's namesake, Curtis Hixon, was a long-time mayor of Tampa who died in 1956 while serving his fourth term in the office.
Curtis Hixon Hall was planned and built in the early 1960s during the administration of Tampa mayor Nick Nuccio, who pushed for the construction of many public works projects around town. It was named for Curtis Hixon, the mayor of Tampa from 1943 until he died while still in office in 1956. Local architect Norman Six designed the uniquely shaped building in a modified Googie architecture style. Construction of the 62,000 square feet (5,800 m2) facility cost approximately $5 million and was mostly financed by municipal bonds issued by the city of Tampa. It was dedicated on January 23, 1965.
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