For the past few days, West Vine Street has been filled with the pleasant noise of a construction crew hard at work. Those of you passing by in car or on foot may have noticed something a little different about the Vine Street theater entrance. All that remains of the stairway are the treads as the contractors work diligently to reconfigure the steps to meet modern building codes. This includes adjusting the height and width of each step to allow for a larger landing at the top of the stairs, and a safer foothold for patrons going up and down the stairs. Beneath the steps you can see the exterior structure of the small office created in the crawlspace of Sips.
In addition to adjusting the stairway, the contractors are preparing to adjust the interior window above the stairs that allows borrowed natural light to penetrate the 2nd-floor hallway. The Vine Street entrance became the most commonly used entrance to the Woodward Opera House patrons beginning in the early-1880s after the theater was enlarged to accommodate larger productions and audiences. This entrance will serve that same purpose once the project is complete, with South Main Street entrance primarily serving the 2nd-floor businesses.
Contractors are hard at work preparing the 2nd floor for occupancy. Here, one of the workers inspects the old chimney flue located in the office space above the Shoppe@TheWoodward. The space on the interior of this flue will be modified to install a new ventilation shaft for make-up air. A small closet located beneath the grand staircase, also shown here, will be enlarged by bringing the doorway forward to accommodate a small mechanical room. Both the reuse of the chimney flue and the modification of the current closet make it possible to retain the historical character of this small office space by masking the planned modern intrusions.
The 2nd floor renovation presents the perfect opportunity to reinforce the load-bearing capacity of the Woodward Opera House's 3rd floor auditorium and balcony. These improvements involve reinforcing the joists using LVL boards (laminated veneered lumber). These boards are attached to the joists at key locations across the length of the floor, and will increase the strength of the joists three fold. In addition, the balcony is receiving extra support by the instillation of multiple LVLS that attach directly to the exterior walls beneath each of the columns.
Developments in the Woodward Opera House restoration project are underway this summer. The renovation of the 2nd floor and restoration of the theater has been long anticipated. The 2nd-floor is currently being renovated to house a number of small offices, which will hopefully be ready for occupation by early next year. Improvements to the theater's floor are also in progress as the contractors work on the 2nd-floor ceilings.
The Woodward Opera House project was awarded the Ohio Historic Tax Credit, the competitive program enacted by the State to assist qualified historic redevelopment projects. The award will result in 25% funding contribution towards the restoration costs of the project, resulting in approximately a $4 million addition to the project budget. Coupled with the Federal Historic Tax Credit program, the combined tax credit amount the project will receive amounts to over $7 million.