Press Release

Facade Demolition Complete

3/25/2011

COLDWATER, MI—     On Friday, crews completed demolition of the brick which has covered Tibbits Opera House’s original façade, in some areas of the first floor for more than 80 years. After opening the original door and window spaces to discover the hidden treasures, the openings were re-boarded to protect the theatre until work begins this summer. Even with the plywood coverings many of the architectural details can still be seen.

     Overall Tom Roberts, the architect on the project, and Brian Black of Grand River Builders who completed the demolition work, are very pleased with the condition of the theatre’s front. “There’s more here than we expected to find and it’s in much better condition than we expected,” said Roberts. He added, “The windows are mostly there and we can look at restoring them rather than the more costly alternative of replacing them.”

     All the transoms, the long narrow windows above the original doors are still there. One of them in the room above the theatre box office is completely intact with original hardware and the original bug screen. This window was underneath the plaster wall in the room that was once an office and is currently used as the usher room.

     Original iron pillars, parts of metal work, scroll work and stone detail are all intact. Most of it has actually been covered since the early part of the 1930s when the old opera house was turned in to a movie theatre. The doors and windows on the main floor were filled with limestone brick and interior walls were covered to modernize the space. The upper windows were filled with plaster and lath.

The brick is also in good shape. There are areas above the arches that look very bad however Roberts assures it doesn’t need to be good because it was, and will be, covered with the ornamentation, most of which was metal. The brick in these areas is called common brick and is more orange in color. The smooth red brick on other areas of the facade is called finish brick. Many of these brick will need to be replaced or repaired but overall they are in good condition. 

     Black, whose firm specializes in historic restoration, rated the condition of the Tibbits facade between a B and a B+. Exploratory work several years ago had only opened areas of the common brick and had therefore painted a more dismal picture of the condition underneath.

     According to Christine Delaney, Tibbits Executive Director, “The news is very good. The estimates we had were based on the worst case scenario and included a huge contingency for the unknown conditions. With the new assessment the cost estimates for restoring the building to its original design can be more accurately calculated.”

     Fundraising continues with the campaign currently at $906,000 raised. For more information on the project or to make a donation, call Tibbits at 517-278-6029 or go to www.Tibbits.org.

     To see more photos, see our façade demolition page here and our facebook albums here.