Kresge Auditorium Kresge Auditorium Kresge Auditorium is an auditorium building for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located at 48 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was designed by the noted architect Eero Saarinen, with ground-breaking in 1953 and dedication in 1955. The building was named for its principal funder, Sebastian S. Kresge, founder of S. S. Kresge Stores (corporate predecessor of Kmart) and the Kresge Foundation. Saarinen designed Kresge Auditorium in tandem with his MIT Chapel; the two buildings are separated by a "green," referred to by students as the "Kresge Oval." The ensemble is recognized as one of the best examples of
Kresge-Newark lines that ran along Broad Street. Kresge changed with the times by opening a branch in Summit in 1946, and in 1959 when B. Altman & Company moved its store from East Orange to Short Hills, Kresge-Newark took over the East Orange store as its location. The Summit Branch (and it was marketed under this name) initially offered home furnishings, appliances and the like, but was enlarged in the 1950s to carry a full line of merchandise. Kresge also saw the type of business lines that discount stores were fast becoming dominant in (lawn supplies, hardware, and the like), and