Restoration of the Opera Hall performance space was the final stage in bringing this historic structure back to life. The building is now a jewel in the center of town, creating a sense of community pride. Completing the performance hall renovation, preserving the building’s architectural character and history, was like putting the “cherry on the sundae.”
Read MoreBent’s is an anchor building in the Village of Medina’s Main Street Historic District. By 2010, the performance space had not been used for decades and the building was fully vacant and in imminent danger of collapsing. In 2016, local developer Roger Hungerford’s Talis Equity purchased the property from the nonprofit Orleans Renaissance Group Inc. Hungerford, who had grown up in Medina, had a vision to give Bent's new life.
Read MoreSince including Opera Houses on the 2018-19 Seven to Save list, the League has worked to document and develop strategies for the preservation of this important building type. We define the term “opera house” fairly broadly to include buildings that historically provided commercial and/or civic space on the first floor with a multi-use performance / meeting space in the upper stories. This summer, our colleagues at Preservation Buffalo Niagara (PBN) and BAC/Architecture + Planning, PLLC completed a Building Investigation on one such building: Paramount Lodge No. 73. The League was able to provide funding for this report thanks to a generous grant from the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, which previously funded a statewide study identifying and documenting extant opera houses.
Read MoreEarlville Opera House (left) and Hubbard Hall (right) will each receive grants to fund capital improvement projects.
Read MoreThe City of Cohoes received a Preserve New York Grant in 2021 to fund a Building Condition Report of the National Bank Building — home to the city’s visitor center and the Cohoes Music Hall.
Read MoreBack in September, we shared an update from Greg Socinski, who had been interning with the League to complete a survey of extant opera houses in New York. We’re happy to report that the initial survey is complete and Greg created a handy map that plots out all of New York’s existing opera houses (that we know of), including photos and location details when available.
Read MoreGreg Socinski is interning with the Preservation League of NYS to create a comprehensive database of extant historic opera houses throughout the state. This internship project is underwritten by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation. In 2018-2019, Historic Opera Houses were included on our biennial Seven to Save list of at-risk historic places. This project is a continuation of work that began during that Seven to Save cycle. If there is a historic opera house in your community, feel free to reach out to Greg by emailing gsocinski@preservenys.org.
Read MoreAnnouncing our biennial list of the most endangered sites in New York State.
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