Bones of the building
I monitored the door for the theater group rehearsals the last two days. We were in a beautiful, old, building. I stress old, because seriously, this place, while magnificent when new, and still beautiful and historic, has problems. When we first came in to rehearse, there was a musty smell of humidity and old dust. There’s the kind of paint peeling in spots that shows underlying moisture, though no drips or obvious water trails. The peeling paint increases as you reach the higher floors, where fewer repairs have been made.
The windows are all single-pane, with metal frames and old crank mechanisms. Many have arches above them; the arches don’t open, only a few of the lower panes. On most of the windows, the handles to crank them open are missing. This is probably a good thing, since random people would leave them open, but it means that hardware has to be replaced before the windows can be opened.
One of the restrooms is closed off completely. During a previous show it leaked sewage. It’s an upper floor restroom, so only basic repairs were made. Instead people were directed to the main restroom near the front entrance, and to the basement restroom, which had been redone. The University of St. Francis held award banquets in the large basement room; they needed that restroom.
The attached Music Technology building was built by the university, I believe. It has a working elevator, which the main building does not. It is full of classrooms and music practice rooms, with all the bells and whistles of modern electricity and plumbing, as well as modern screens and computer hookups. There is wifi throughout the Music Technology building, and at least part of the old auditorium building.
The entire block in front of the building has been converted to parking space, with a statue of St. Francis and decorative trees. The university invested in a good parking lot; it has the advantage of not being historic. There are bar gates that would raise when you paid to exit, but now they are constantly up out of the way. Other businesses nearby pay a fee to use the parking lot. When we visited a doctor in a nearby high rise, we were given a paper permit to place on our dashboard, so we could park there.
One section of the building seems to be in excellent shape: the main staircases. There are two, one on each side of the entrance. They were built of stone, with sturdy metal railings and decorative curls. It’s possible that they’ve been broken and repaired, but if so, it doesn’t show. You can climb to the rafters safely, on any of the stairs I tried, including the cement backstage stairs. The bones of the building seem solid. I hope it remains.
