32nd St. and Lancaster Ave. Philadelphia Armory, also known as the 32nd Street Armory or Drexel Armory, is a historic National Guardarmory and multipurpose venue located in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Main entrances to the Armory are located at both 33rd and Cuthbert Street, and along Lancaster Walk. It was built in 1916, and is a trapezoidal shaped building in the Classical Revival style. It is a three-story, 21,346 square foot, brick building with stone entablature and parapet. It houses administrative offices, a gymnasium, and drill hall. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1991. In 2008, Drexel University acquired the armory with plans to renovate it into a convocation and basketball arena for the use of Drexel athletics. Eventually, the university abandoned the plans to convert the armory into its primary arena, and instead focused on renovating the current arena, the Daskalakis Athletic Center. However, smaller scale renovations were completed at the armory and it is currently used for many events such as concerts, food events, art gatherings, and conventions.
Concerts
Drexel Homecoming Dance Concert
The annual homecoming dance concert was held at the armory during the last week of January each year from 2009 to 2014. Following the 2014 concert, the event was replaced by the Drexel Fall Fest. Headlining performances included:
The annual Spring Jam concert, which is organized by the Drexel CAB, is generally held during the Spring semester. The Spring Jam was performed at the Drexel Armory until it was relocated to Lot F, an open parking area on Drexel's campus between Main Building and 31st Street, beginning in 2011. The headlining acts of the Spring Jam concerts performed at the armory included:
The Buckley Courts are three plexicushion multipurpose courts within the armory. They are named after Robert Buckley, an alumnus of the Drexel College of Engineering and a member of the Drexel Athletics Hall of Fame as a three-sport athlete. The courts serve as a practice site for club and varsity sports teams during the winter. They are also available to students for recreational sports including tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton, indoor soccer, street hockey and table tennis.
Basketball
The armory was the home arena for the Drexel Dragons basketball teams from 1969 to 1975.
