Buildings @ Oakland University

 

Barn Theatre

Quick Facts

• Original construction: 1925
• Renovation completion: September 1967
• Construction: Wake-Pratt Construction Company
• Specifications: 2,702 sq. ft.; featured 350 seats
• Namesake: The Barn Theatre was originally part of a 14-unit dairy complex on the grounds of Meadow Brook Estate, which was gifted to the university by Alfred and Matilda Wilson in 1957.  Bearing its architecture and former purpose in mind, students rechristened it the Barn Theatre.

History

Once part of an agricultural complex on Meadow Brook Estate, the dairy barn was re-purposed as home to the Student Enterprise Theatre in 1967.  The Barn Theatre, as it came to be known, was the site of student theatre productions before its closure in 1983. It reopened briefly as a student coffee house and lounge before it was lost suddenly in a fire on August 17, 1987. While the ground flooring of the barn remained stable, the majority of the building sustained severe damages. Deemed too costly to repair, the Barn was razed shortly after.

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Photos courtesy of the Oakland University Archives.