ACT’s current home has always been a gathering place for good things.

Built in 1924, the Eagles Auditorium (now called Kreielsheimer Place) was originally the celebrated home of the Fraternal Order of Eagles. The Fraternal Order of Eagles was founded in 1898 by a group of theatre managers, and was first called the Seattle Order of Good Things.

The impressive building that would one day house ACT was built to attract new members to the Eagles’ organization. One of Seattle’s most beautiful terracotta buildings, the Eagles Auditorium boasted a Renaissance-revival exterior that housed a large ballroom, a decorative balcony, and an elaborate polychromatic ceiling. The next time you attend a show in ACT’s Allen Theatre, look up through the lighting grids above the stage and you will still be able to catch a glimpse of the original ballroom ceiling.

On November 10, 1961, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. addressed an overflowing crowd in the Eagles Auditorium’s Grand Ballroom during his only visit to Seattle. The stage Dr. King spoke from still stands on the north side of the Allen Theatre.

Designed by local architects and engineer Henry Bittman, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and was made a Seattle Historic Landmark in 1984.