Stand Theater renovations and rebirth continue

By Katherine Clark
Imagine a theater with imported silk wall coverings, box seat niches, exotic wood walls, Italian marble floors, a 96 light chandelier hanging gracefully from an ornamented ceiling, and aluminum detail from a time when aluminum was more precious than silver.
Now stop imagining and take a trip down to the Brinkerhoff Street where the North Country Cultural Center for the Arts is restoring the Strand Theater to its former glory.
The Strand Theater has been through a series of changes through different times and different owners. It has been divided, gutted. It has been turned into office spaces and multiple movie theaters. Now the Strand is undergoing renovations to be restored to the same grandeur patrons witnessed as they walked in through the American walnut doors on December 24, 1942.
The opening of the Strand Theater marked Plattsburgh as an epicenter of entertainment. The Strand was only one of a few theaters of its kind that had ever been erected in any Northern New York City.
From its first films “Hot Water,” with Harold Lloyd to a 1996 Phish concert, the Strand has stood as an icon of its own for the performers that have gotten to perform there.
In 2004 the NCCCA purchased the theater and has been working to restore the theater to be a performing arts center and to be historically accurate to 1924 standards.
Primarily run by the dedication of volunteers, the restoration has been made possible through funds and time donated to the reconstruction.
“Volunteer labor has made it happen,” said Leigh Mundy, president of the board of trustees for the Strand Theater.
Major work has been done by professionals such as grant administrators, Brother’s Contractors, architect Fred Keil, and Jonathan Ortloff who has been restoring an original 1924 Wurlitzer organ piece by piece to sit in the orchestra pit in the Strand.
“It’s coming together little by little but we’re getting there,” said Keil. “It’s more of a research project than anything.”
Keil has been working to reconstruct the interior and exterior of the Strand to be “Historical in a way, modern in safety.” Working with the original designs and bringing it up to 2010 building codes.
“Originally there was a half wall in the back of the theater, so if there weren’t enough seats people could watch from the back, but we had to put a full wall up where the half wall was to meet building codes,” said Keil.
Taking away modern feel for things as simple as an emergency exit sign, Keil said the goal is for modern safety features to not interfere with the 1924 atmosphere by camouflaging features such as fire sprinklers and bringing in hand made stained glass exit signs made by a local artist, Susan Daul.
The theater house could not be a theater house without the 1924 Wurlitzer organ being restored by Jonathan Ortloff, organist and organ builder, has been volunteering his time and experience to restoring a donated 1924 Wurlitzer organ for the past three years.
“One thing that makes ours (Wurlitzer) so special is that only 2,500 of these organs were made between 1910 and 1930, there’s a lot out there but a lot have been erratically altered, there are only 10 that haven’t been altered in anyway. Our organ is a living, working, musical piece of history,” said Ortloff. “In that way the organ is much more rare than the theater is.”
To gain historical recognition, the simplest task of picking a wall color is not so simple, the exact colors for the walls and ceilings that must be approved by historical society.
“All colors have to be analyzed by each level down to the wood and then approved by historical agency,” said Keil.
Mundy said that the colors approved in 2008 by the historical society must be re-analyzed; the approved colors must be reapproved before painting can start.
“It’s slow and rewarding, once it’s done it will make Plattsburgh a more wonderful place, and give people a reason to stay in the area. We have businesses bringing in highly educated employees, we have an amazing hospital, amazing education, beautiful lake and what the Strand will do is open up the cultural corridor to Plattsburgh,” said Mundy.
The NCCCA has received the money it needs to finish the facade and Marquette with money from a 2006 grant.
There many things left to be completed for the building to be finished; a new roof must be installed, and a heating system must be put it. Regardless, Keil said that the theater could be finished within a year if all of the funds were available.
“Federal money is fast, state is slow,” said Mundy. Mundy said that the Strand has been approved for grants from 2008 that are just recently coming in.
“We need to match whatever money we’re approved of before we can receive grant money.”
The Strand Theater restoration project is run primarily with the help of volunteers, grants, and donations. Mundy said she works every day as a volunteer to make this project happen.
The Strand received 768 Spick-and-span handsome new chairs from American Bodiform, in 1948. “The most comfortable and increases ones pleasure at the theater,” according to an article from the Press Republican from, 1948.
Today about 212 seats have been purchased by private contributors to have the seats reupholstered and restored. Anyone who would like to make a donation to the Strand Theater can contact the NCCCA and can specify where that donation will be attributed.