By DAVID LEE
CHATHAM–FilmColumbia has just concluded its 24th annual film festival on Sunday, October 27 and now its home screen at the Crandell Theatre on Main Street in the village will be closing for its long anticipated renovation and restoration. The work will begin on November 18 and is expected to take about a year to complete. When the theater reopens, visitors will find a new lobby with cafe tables, new auditorium seating, and upgrades in lighting, sound and projection. Also importantly, the bathrooms will be upgraded.
The architect for the project was Joel Merker who died in May this year. But his design will be followed and he will be honored with a plaque displayed prominently in the building. He was dedicated to the task of maintaining the historic nature of this movie house which was originally constructed in 1926 by local civic leader Walter Crandell.
The original architect, Louis L. Wetmore, created a design based on the Spanish Renaissance Revival style made popular in the United States after the opening of the Panama Canal and the subsequent Panama-California Exposition held in 1915 in San Deigo. The style features arches, curves, stucco, and tile, also balconies and ornamental iron work and courtyards and patios. According to a history of the theater published on the Crandell’s website, the first movie was titled “Michel Strogoff,” a silent film adventure set in Czarist Russia and based on a book by Jules Verne.
In more recent history, the theater was owned by the Quirino family. When its last operator Tony Quirino died in 2010, the theater stood empty and open for suggestions. There was talk at the time of turning the building into a sporting goods store. The Chatham Film Club raised the $600,000 needed to buy the building and return it to its original mission of screening movies. There were upgrades to the infrastructure at the time including a new roof and HVAC. The projection booth was reconfigured for a digital projector in 2013.
Since then the theater and its programming has been governed by the film club, a non-for-profit board. Plans were made for its full scale renovation in 2019. At that time the price tag was about $2.5 million, but that was before the pandemic. Today (“without altering our plans or construction drawings”) the cost is expected to be about $4 million, about two thirds of which has been raised thus far. To help with the capital campaign the Crandall offers a brass name plate fixed to a seat — or a group of seats — that people can purchase for $500 per seat.
Renovations will include new more comfortable seating in staggered rows for better sight lines, and cup holders for your soda.
Outside the Crandell Theater on Sunday afternoon, October 20, film and television star Walton Goggins (second from l) talks to fans including FilmColumbia Co-Executive and Artistic Director Peter Biskind (third from l). Photo by David Lee
According to Mr. Merker’s research, there are 422 non-original seats on the main floor and another 112 original seats in the balcony. In the new plan, there will be somewhat fewer seats because they will be larger, but the theater will retain two banks of the original seating in the balcony, for historical interest. There will be accessible unisex bathrooms, state of the art lighting, projection and sound, upgraded heating and ventilation, an expanded lobby to accommodate a new ticket booth and a café, and the concession stand will move to the side. Mr. Merker’s plan includes restoration of the original proscenium and street facade, and a new marquee that will “honor the original” one.
Brian Leach, who became the executive director on May 20th this year, said, “We feel that the primary product of the Crandell is the movie going experience. And with that in mind we are in contact with various places in the vicinity where a movie could be shown along with an interactive component, a lecture for example.”
When the theater reopens, it will be on the approach of its 100th anniversary in 2026.
For more information on the Crandell and the plans, go to crandelltheatre.org/support/restoration-faq-updates/
