Grant would fund $430K of $1.29M major auditorium renovation
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ABOVE: A major capital campaign — much like the Stars of the Holland campaign that raised the $105,000 necessary for ceiling repairs at the Holland Theatre — is about to get under way to fund a proposed $1.29 million auditorium renovation project that got a major kick start this weekend with the announcement of a $430,000 grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation. HOME PAGE SLIDESHOW PHOTO: The Holland Theatre will receive a $430,000 grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation to kick off a $1.29 million project, theater officials announced this weekend. (EXAMINER PHOTOS | REUBEN MEES) |
What started as a pipe dream for a class of sixth-graders, their teacher and a few dedicated community members in the late 1990s is growing ever closer to reality.
Just this weekend, Holland Theatre officials announced that the historic restoration project has qualified for a $430,000 grant toward a $1.29 million project that would nearly finish the interior work.
“We’re very excited,” theater board chairwoman Kris Swisher said. “It will be like a new theater when we’re done.”
The restoration began in 1998 as a group of Mrs. Swisher’s gifted students aspired to save the historic theater from demolition. Local community members got involved and have raised more than $1.5 million to secure the building and get well into the restoration process.
The current announcement, in which the Wisconsin-based Jeffris Family Foundation has pledged $430,000 if the local community can raise $860,000, is the single largest grant award in the project’s history.
In addition to replacing seats and installing new flooring in the main auditorium, the project would include finishing work on the Dutch-themed facades that line the space and creating an inviting green room area for performers to prepare, among many other details.
The Jeffris Foundation is a major benefactor of private historic restoration projects throughout the Midwest.
The foundation is “dedicated to the Midwest’s cultural history and heritage through preserving regionally and nationally important historic buildings and decorative arts projects. They especially like to support smaller cities,” Tom Jeffris said in a news release. The Holland was chosen in large part because it is the only known Dutch-themed theater in America.
Local architect Karen Beasley, who has volunteered her services and worked closely with architects from Chambers, Murphy and Burge of Akron to develop the historic structure report that serves as a basis for the project, said she is thrilled that the grant came through.
“If you look at the other projects this foundation has given money to, they are huge icons in the world of architecture and historic restoration. They were taken aback by the Holland Theatre and how unique it was,” she said.
“This would really bring the interior up to today’s standard for a theater our size and bring back the architectural character of the building. It’s thrilling, really — a shot in the arm to bring it really near completion.”
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And she credited the many others who took on the project with only the glimmer of hope that it would reach the stage it has today.
“All the people who started this in the ’90s, I hope they are really proud of what they did because back then everybody thought it was a hopeless cause,” Ms. Beasley said.
Funding the project
Read complete story in Monday’s Examiner.
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These architectural drawings show the interior plans of the Holland Theatre, with the balcony at the top, the main auditorium in the middle and the green room and basement at the bottom. |
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