History
The arena was built on a downtown site, bounded by Exchange Boulevard on the west, East Broad Street on the north, the Genesee River on the east and Court Street on the south. The property was formerly the home of the Kimball Tobacco Co. and other retail buildings. Originally named the Rochester Community War Memorial, opened on October 18, 1955. The building included a full stage on the south end and an exhibition hall located on the basement level. One of the members of the construction team was Gorilla Monsoon.
On March 13, 1996, renovations to expand the arena took place, eliminating the permanent stage at the south end of the building. On July 24, 1998, Blue Cross Blue Shield and City officials announced that the name of the renovated arena would be Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial. On September 18, 1998, the arena re-opened to the public during a formal ribbon cutting/rededication ceremony. DeWolff Partnership Architects completed the project as Architects of Record with Rosetti Architects in a consultant relationship. C.E.DeWolff Senior Partner of DeWolff Partnership and Leonard Waasdorp of Rosetti Architects were Design Associates who collaborated on features of the design.(City of Rochester Agreement 021363 June 28 1995 and AIA Doc. C141 September 15 1995)
Read more about this topic: Blue Cross Arena
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