A reader writes in:"My wife and I live on the 4600 block of Magnolia and we often walk
north up Magnolia on our way up to Andersonville for weekend strolls.
This usually entails taking a short pause to gawk at the back side of
the Uptown Theatre. As it turns out, yesterday there was actually some
human activity behind the chain-link fence. Workers were ripping out
what looked like some pretty water damaged wood flooring. One of the
workers, a really nice kid who didn't look a day over 20, said that
from what he had heard from his boss, this was just the beginning of a
lot of work. Sounds great to us!"
let's hope that's what they are doing! i was wondering if anything was going on there yet.
ReplyDeleteI am going there on an inspection today. I'll post a comment on my observations
ReplyDeletemy husband and i had the same experience two weekends ago. a workman came out the front and was waiting for someone, holding the front "board door" open. i asked him if i could gawk for a bit and he let me but said i couldn't go in cause it wasn't safe. we'll let me tell you.... its unbelievable. that stairway. unreal. i told him that it looked pretty good and he said "that's why they build tombs out of marble. it lasts forever." the ceilings however, looked bad. i think that was part of what they were doing. all the marble though - which was all the floor and stairway - looked to be in perfect condition.
ReplyDeleteyes, falco. please report back, if you would. i am sure it isn't a pretty day inside the theatre with the rain coming down as it is right now...
ReplyDeleteI went, what a cool place. I took lots of pictures.
ReplyDeleteThe people who abandoned the building basically shut down the heat when they left. TO make a long story short, that basically destroyed the building because the systems that were designed to keep ice off the roof froze and broke. THus, water has been pouring in for years. They have done a nice job of cleaing up that front area for sure. And the actual theater doesn't look that bad, just dusty. (The balcony still has the original seats, which was pretty cool. ) There are areas that are so bad however, it reminded me of what it must be like to be taking a tour of the Titanic.
The guys from JAM really seemed sincere in thier desire to get this building up and running.
I will let you know when I can post the pictures
To clarify, when the Uptown Theatre was not heated (say in the winters of '82 and '83) the inside temperature dropped to the point that some of the storm drains which drain all 12 roof surfaces froze and broke open. This allowed all of the water collected onto the roof to run into the building and damage things, like decorative plaster, in its path. The storm drains run inside the exterior walls because we don't hang gutters and downspouts on large commercial buildings. Some of these long runs of pipe have been replaced in stabilization. Some of the original ones remain with patches. Most of the damage you see in the building was done or began 20 years ago. Many sections appear as "before and after," with damage only being in the areas of the storm drains.
ReplyDeletePlease note that we have honored the request of the building's security guard to NOT post interior photos at this time. Many photographers who have been in the building have made this promise but have quickly violated it online. Thank you.