Architects Yost & Packard designed the auditorium; in doing so they remodeled an older structure, the Park Roller Skating Rink, which had opened on March 17, 1885.

Evangelist Billy Sunday was a tenant of the building, and it also held the first official game of the Ohio State Buckeyes men's basketball team, in 1897.

The Columbus Exposition Company proposed an eight-story building at Rich and Front streets, with a 10,000-seat arena, offices, commercial space, and an interurban train station.

The auditorium hosted the annual Columbus Auto Show, which had been held at the Franklin County Memorial Hall in years prior.

It also hosted boxing and wrestling matches, and the Ohio State Buckeyes played basketball games in the building during its 1942–43 and 1943–44 seasons (armed forces had taken over use of the Fairgrounds Coliseum during World War II).

[1]: 202–203  Lazarus renovated the building for its purposes, removing the auditorium interior and altering much of the exterior.