Elizabeth Miller, president of Miller Mechanical, has purchased the Park Theater building at 14 Park St., Glens Falls, and plans to turn it into a performing arts venue.
BY MAUREEN WERTHER
On a chilly December evening in 1911, the Park Theater, located in the heart of downtown Glens Falls, welcomed its first customers. It offered vaudeville acts, variety shows, and the newest
craze–silent movies.
Over 100 years later, after several changes of ownership and standing empty for long stretches of time, the historic building at 14 Park St. is about to get a face lift and open its doors once again.
Elizabeth Miller, president of Miller Mechanical, purchased the building from the family of Dr. Harold Kirkpatrick in July 2014, with the intention of rescuing it from probable demolition and returning it to the community as a venue for performing arts, theater productions and private parties and events.
This is not the first time the old building has been rescued from destruction. After closing for the first time in 1935, most likely a casualty of the Great Depression, the Glens Falls Post Star purchased it in 1937 and moved its printing press operations there. Ownership changed again in 1979, when it was sold to R. Morris. No information is available regarding the reason for the purchase or Morris’ plans for the building. But the theater stood idle again for several more years until Dr. Harold Kirkpatrick purchased it, saving it from the wrecking ball. Kirkpatrick spent more than 20 years and huge amounts of his own money restoring the building and returning it as a “focal point” in the community, according to the GlensFallsRegion.com.
It re-opened in 2006 and in 2010 began offering a mix of independent and mainstream films. When he died in 2014, Kirkpatrick’s family closed the building and put it up for sale.
Miller, who has experience in building renovation and restoration, seized the opportunity. She envisions Park Theater as a “multi-purpose” venue and she has already been in talks with the Glens Falls Music Academy, along with other local theater directors, to use the space for performances.
Miller said Andrew Allison, the project architect, is finalizing plans for the first floor. She anticipates the work on the first floor to be done by the fall and hopes to have the entire building open sometime in 2017.
The floors will not be inclined, in the way that a typical theater is, in order to make the space more amenable to hosting a variety of other functions.
The structure has two floors, as well as a basement with 16-foot ceilings that Miller is considering transforming into a “rathskeller” type of establishment.
Matt Cifone, of Cifone Construction, will be the contractor on the job. Currently he and Miller are in the process of locating bricks that will match the unique style and size of the original facade. They have sent samples to brick-makers as far away as Texas. Once that hurdle is passed, construction can begin.