Nov. 13, 2007
Columbia Lovers Search for Hope; Michigan Theatre Lost Roof, But Walls Stood; Now, it’s Being Rebuilt
Story By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
Photos By Claudette Ferguson
Portsmouth, Ohio (HNN) – While a doom and gloom atmosphere hangs over Portsmouth, Ohio, following the blaze that gutted the Columbia Theatre (Columbia Music Hall, http://columbiamusichall.com) , a few bits of encouragement can be found by scanning the theatre preservation web site, Cinema Treasures.
On February 13, 2007, fire inflicted massive damage on the Lebowsky Center (the former Capitol Theatre) in Owosso, Michigan. Virtually, only the four walls remained. But after a few months of waiting, engineers found all but one wall safe. Now, the theatre that was mostly ashes will be reborn. In fact, the city started a fund raising campaign to rebuild the venue which had been used by the Owosso Players, who have moved temporarily to the Owosso Middle School.
(For photos of the Labowsky/Capitol click: http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4138 and http://cinematreasures.org/news/16009_0_1_0_C20/, then scroll down to the links. )
After Claudette Ferguson took the shot of the open door of the gutted music hall, HNN applied a little zoom and photoshop magic in an effort to allow a better description of what remains.
“The balcony appears to have saved most of what was beneath it. From what I could see today, the front house speakers look to still be in place, at least one of the stage light racks is still in place,” Ferguson said. “The sound booth appears totally intact. Smoke can do tremendous harm to those consoles.”
Unfortunately, “from what I can see, the stage floor is gone. The walls behind the stage appear ok, but on the left side of the picture the wall appears to be gone.”
On further examination of the photo, Ferguson said she believes two white “columns” are still in place near a “black space which led from the stage area to the electric room. My mixing console sat right in front. It was chilling today, to think two nights before, I stood in that very spot and ran monitors.”
As for the Michigan theatre, Gary Flinn penned the following:
Unfortunately, the OCP's fire insurance does not cover replacement costs so they will need to raise funds to rebuild the facility. Fire investigators believe the cause was arson. Structual engineers and building inspectors determined that only the unstable portions of the east and west auditorium walls need to be removed and will be carefully demolished so no further damage to the stable portions of the building occur. Because of the aforementioned fire safety features, the front part of the theater building escaped major damage as well as the portion of the theater with 200 seats under the balcony. So the undamaged front facade may be preserved.
Columbia Lovers Search for Hope; Michigan Theatre Lost Roof, But Walls Stood; Now, it’s Being Rebuilt
Story By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
Photos By Claudette Ferguson
Portsmouth, Ohio (HNN) – While a doom and gloom atmosphere hangs over Portsmouth, Ohio, following the blaze that gutted the Columbia Theatre (Columbia Music Hall, http://columbiamusichall.com) , a few bits of encouragement can be found by scanning the theatre preservation web site, Cinema Treasures.
On February 13, 2007, fire inflicted massive damage on the Lebowsky Center (the former Capitol Theatre) in Owosso, Michigan. Virtually, only the four walls remained. But after a few months of waiting, engineers found all but one wall safe. Now, the theatre that was mostly ashes will be reborn. In fact, the city started a fund raising campaign to rebuild the venue which had been used by the Owosso Players, who have moved temporarily to the Owosso Middle School.
(For photos of the Labowsky/Capitol click: http://cinematreasures.org/theater/4138 and http://cinematreasures.org/news/16009_0_1_0_C20/, then scroll down to the links. )
After Claudette Ferguson took the shot of the open door of the gutted music hall, HNN applied a little zoom and photoshop magic in an effort to allow a better description of what remains.
“The balcony appears to have saved most of what was beneath it. From what I could see today, the front house speakers look to still be in place, at least one of the stage light racks is still in place,” Ferguson said. “The sound booth appears totally intact. Smoke can do tremendous harm to those consoles.”
Unfortunately, “from what I can see, the stage floor is gone. The walls behind the stage appear ok, but on the left side of the picture the wall appears to be gone.”
On further examination of the photo, Ferguson said she believes two white “columns” are still in place near a “black space which led from the stage area to the electric room. My mixing console sat right in front. It was chilling today, to think two nights before, I stood in that very spot and ran monitors.”
As for the Michigan theatre, Gary Flinn penned the following:
Unfortunately, the OCP's fire insurance does not cover replacement costs so they will need to raise funds to rebuild the facility. Fire investigators believe the cause was arson. Structual engineers and building inspectors determined that only the unstable portions of the east and west auditorium walls need to be removed and will be carefully demolished so no further damage to the stable portions of the building occur. Because of the aforementioned fire safety features, the front part of the theater building escaped major damage as well as the portion of the theater with 200 seats under the balcony. So the undamaged front facade may be preserved.
