Unauthorized video of Worcester Memorial Auditorium generates YouTube fame, as fundraising effort to save building continues

A popular YouTube account which explores abandoned buildings featured the Worcester Memorial Auditorium in a new video, giving viewers a behind-the-scenes, unauthorized look at the state of the once-thriving venue. The Proper People, a Youtube account with 1.56 million subscribers exploring abandoned buildings around the world, highlighted the Worcester Memorial Auditorium in a video released on Oct. 30.  The 22-minute video, which has already racked up more than 135,000 views, features a tour of the building, showing off its grand murals, unique architecture, and some of the disrepair the building has succumbed to since it closed to the public after a pipe burst in 2017.  Previous videos from the account feature properties including an abandoned water park in China and a defunct Ford factory in Michigan.  The Worcester Memorial Auditorium is owned by the City of Worcester, which is working with Boston-based nonprofit Architectural Heritage Foundation to find a path towards revitalizing the space. AHF specializes in revitalizing historic buildings stuck in limbo, with past projects that include revitalizing Quincy Market in Downtown Boston and redeveloping the Charles River Speedway in Brighton. Neither the City nor AHF authorized the video, said Tom Matthews, media and public relations administrator for City Manager Eric Batista, and Jake Sanders, project executive at AHF.  However, both parties used the opportunity to highlight the building’s unique architecture and the ongoing efforts to save it. “The Worcester Memorial Auditorium is an incredibly important piece of Worcester history that we’re working to preserve for generations to come as we actively support the Architectural Heritage Foundation’s efforts to identify financial partners to help redevelop the building,” Matthews wrote in an email to WBJ. “We highly encourage anyone who is interested in this building and its potential to, once again, become a central gathering spot for the Worcester community to donate to AHF and help make the building’s restoration possible.” The video appeared to be shot a few years ago, Matthews said, with the municipality making several security upgrades in the time since. He wrote the Worcester Police Department and City parks security regularly monitor the building, which is outfitted with motion sensors and alarms.  In May, the state announced $25 million in matching funding for the project in an attempt to spur private philanthropy commitments to what would be an approximately $100-million project.  AHF continues to work to find private donors willing to contribute to the project, with the nonprofit still optimistic it can bring the building back to life, Sanders wrote in an email to WBJ. “AHF is a small nonprofit that takes on ‘stuck’ historic buildings because we believe they’re important community assets worth saving,” he wrote. “The video obviously highlights the building's grandeur with the murals, the craftsmanship, and the ways it honors those from Worcester lost in WWI. Redeveloping the Auditorium needs to happen and, slowly but surely, we’re working hard to make it a reality.” Constructed in the 1930s, the Art Deco auditorium was once the city’s most prominent event venue, attracting big-name musical acts which included Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones. The venue served as the former home for games of the College of Holy Cross Crusaders men’s basketball team.  Declining in use over the years after the completion of the larger and more modern DCU Center in 1982, the last event held at the auditorium was an organ and choral concert in 2016, according to the venue's website.  Eric Casey is the managing editor at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.