Hanover Theater - In the News -

-- In the News --

Hanover Theater added to preservation risk list

By CRAIG K. PASKOSKI, Evening Sun Reporter, January 17, 2012


	Christy Johnson, who owns The Frame Shop in downtown Hanover, takes photos of the ceiling of the Hanover Theater today as part of a press conference held by the group Preservation Pennsylvania to annouce the listing of the historic Hanover building as an at-risk location. (THE EVENING SUN -- SHANE DUNLAP)

Talk of preserving and restoring the Hanover Theater downtown has circulated for years, with many good ideas and intentions, but little results. And since 2009, when the Frederick Street building was again placed up for sale, the theater's fate has been in limbo.

But the backing of a statewide preservation group should bolster efforts to save the site, which has been a fixture downtown since opening in 1928 as the State Theater.

Preservation Pennsylvania officials announced this morning it has included the theater on its "Pennsylvania At Risk" list, which should help draw statewide attention to the building's plight they say.

In Hanover for a ceremony and tour of the theater, Preservation Pennsylvania Executive Director Mindy Gulden Crawford said the theater was placed on the "at-risk" list because the immediate threat to its condition and future, and because of the potential to save the building.


Supporters of Preservation Pennsylvania and members of the media visit the Hanover Theater on Tuesday morning as part of a press conference annoucing the well-known Hanover building has been placed on the 2011 Pennsylvania At Risk list. (THE EVENING SUN -- SHANE DUNLAP)

"All is not lost. It's just a matter of getting the right person involved," said Crawford, who noted that her group received several requests to become involved with the theater effort. "Calling attention often does have a positive impact.

"We try to find the properties that we feel have the potential to be preserved," she said. "They have to have some potential for return."

The theater was one of 11 historic resources the group added to its list Tuesday, including the Trinity United Methodist Church in York, which at one time had been condemned and slated for demolition.

The theater and church join more than 200 other resources listed as endangered, which the group defines as being threatened with demolition, significant deterioration, vandalism, alteration or lose of historic setting. Preservation Pennsylvania has also listed the Cyclorama Building, the Gettysburg Military Battlefield and Camp Letterman in Adams County as at risk in previous years.

Crawford said Preservation Pennsylvania will closely monitor the theater's status and offer its staff support and technical assistance "to see the project through." The group has successfully helped preserve a number of the sites, some recognized as Historic Preservation Award winners.

The Hanover Theater showed its last film in December of 1986 - "Pinocchio" - before being closed and sold to a group that planned on converting it into an antiques mall. That plan was abandoned in 1991, however, and the 14,000-square-foot building was instead used as a warehouse and then fell into disrepair.

In 2007, the theater was sold to a holding company, Historic Hanover Theater, LLC, in hopes that it could be restored as part of the revitalization of downtown Hanover. The building, which has seven levels, was stabilized in anticipation of future restoration, but in August of 2010 it was put up for sale for more than $500,000 in hopes of finding an organization or individual that was ready to pursue those efforts.

The front of the theater was boarded up last summer after caretaker Dave Leske and his wife moved out of the building. Since then, the theater has been one of four sites mentioned as a possible location for a downtown convention center that could help spark downtown revitalization.

In assessing the theater's future, the preservation group said if the current owners "do not find a buyer soon, deferred maintenance will lead to further deterioration, and may result in the community calling for its demolition."

But Crawford said having "so much local interest" is a solid first step in preservation efforts. She said success would depend on finding the right fit for the building and town.

"There's been different groups that have come along over the years, so far none have actually worked out," she said. "We wish we were announcing the sale of the building (for preservation)."

The Hanover Theater also has a sentimental value for Crawford, who lives in Hanover and went to see her first movie there - "Mary Poppins" - in 1964. She said it's the first time the preservation group has dealt with a site that she was personally familiar with.

"This was circulating in the process before I knew about it," she said.

Although, Crawford admits that making the announcement Tuesday at the theater was her idea.

"I thought that would be kind of nice," she said.

NEW TO RISK LIST

Preservation Pennsylvania has added 11 resources to its Pennsylvania at Risk list.

They are:

Two covered bridges, Sullivan County

Lehigh Canal, Northampton County

Bucks County Playhouse, New Hope

Hanover Theater, Hanover

Trinity United Methodist Church, York

1000 block of North 6th Street, Harrisburg

Keystone Markers statewide

Lehigh Valley Railroad Depot, Wyoming County

Highland Hall, Hollidaysburg

Villa Chapel, Erie.