Hysterical board drops historical appeal
The Coconut Grove Playhouse's Board has dropped their appeal of historic designation of the theater building, allowing the theater to "live."
I never did understand why supposed theater lovers were trying to kill something so beautiful. Hypocritical bastards.
Story here.
I never did understand why supposed theater lovers were trying to kill something so beautiful. Hypocritical bastards.
Story here.
posted by Tom Falco at 8:45 AM
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10 Comments:
i agree with the historic designation, but it's not the best example of mediterranean revival architecture in either the city of Miami, or even Coconut Grove. It could be rather beautiful and "right up there" in comparisons, if they would reconstruct the spanish cast stone/stucco decorative elements on the facade that were removed long ago.
Tear it down, build something modern and stunning. Frankly, it looks old and run down, the cobalt blue facade looks fake and the inside is ratty.
The above comment is no reason to tear it down. First, there's plenty of places nearby that one could build a new structure if they wanted to. Coconut Grove has plenty of sites that could accomodate something "modern and stunning". Second, this particular structure is a lot btter looking than 90% of what's around it, even without restoring it. Third, you might get something "modern" to replace it, but "stunning" would require talent beyond the available talent pool, just look around, just how many "stunning" buildings do you see???
Coconut Grove is not the place for "modernism". Look around and youll get what Im talking about.
I live in the Grove. Frankly, I can't find anything positive to say about the theater. Actually, can't find much positive to say about most of the buildings in the are except two: I think Cocowalk is great and serves its purpose admirably as a "town square" and I find Mayfair still fascinating. I knew Treister back when, saw Mayfair go up and listened to a bunch of people decry "the lost heritage and blah blah blah".
Guess what. Mayfair is still, by far, the best looking building around.
The rest of the buildings around? Come on. Glorified strips.
So, what's wrong with tearing down a building that has clearly served its purpose but is not useful anymore?
I am alarmed by people who say "look around" or talk about it being impossible to do something stunning. Why not? Just because something has not been done... is it impossible?
Cities evolve. It is useless to try to stop evolution (McMansions are a clear proof). Much better to guide it well.
The playhouse has not outlived it's useful purpose. When they tore down the ice plant on Douglas road, that made sense. People from all over S. Florida were bussed into Coconut Grove everyday/night to this playhouse. They saw a show, went to greenstreets, had an ice cream cone, and walked the neighborhood. If the theater reopened, they would all return. There are few playhouses in S. Florida and the demand is there.
Anyway, even if the playhouse wasn't in use all that much, that's no reason to destroy it. In other more civilized societies they don't tear everything down every 50 years. What would Europe look like if they tore down everything that had outlived it's purpose? No more gladiators? Tear down the coliseum!
The playhouse is not the Coliseum, but it's a fine example of spanish architecture, and one of maybe half dozen surviving buildings by Richard Kiehnel in Coconut Grove. For those of you who don't know who he was, well I'm wasting my time.
The problem with the Playhouse is that it is structurally unsound. Preserving the existing building is not really an option.
I work in professional theatre - in fact, I work at the "other" Playhouse, at the Miracle Theatre. I know all about working with an historic building, and the difficulties - and joys - of adapting an old structure to a new use. And I also have gone on the record about how important the Grove was (and could be) to the local theatre community. The closing of the Grove has hurt the entire theatre community.
The building HAS to come down, that is not an option. The time to save the building was thirty years ago. Now, there isn't any steel left in the walls to save. Can the new building look like the old one? Easily. The current structure isn't anything architecturally unique or irreplaceable. It's CONCRETE. You take castings of what's there, and use it to mold the new building. And this time, use clean sand, so the structure will last.
This would also allow the building to be brought up to current codes, such as ADA compliance. The cost of retrofitting an exisiting building is easily two to three times the cost of incorporating it into a new structure.
As to the artistic relevance of the CG Playhouse; I can't disagree that it had lost touch with the community. New management was long needed, and the board should have acted a long time ago. And I'll tell you this; no one in the theatre industry will work with the current board, at least until they've taken care of the staff they've screwed over. The board is delusional if they really beleive they'll be producing plays in the foreseeable future.
Several of the posters above covered key reasons to replace the decrepit old Coconut Grove Playhouse. But the main reason to scuttle the building is that it is NOT a playhouse. It is a MOVIE THEATER jerry-rigged to serve as a live theater facility. It is as much of a "playhouse" as a zebra is a thoroughbred racehorse. Sorta similar from a distance but NOT the same. The "playhouse" is totally inadequate for live theater. No backstage. No flyspace. No loading docks. Horrible sightlines. No proper balconies. It’s a freakish joke and needs to be leveled and replaced by a new facility that – as noted above - could easily resemble the current structure but with the interior of a real playhouse with multiple stages occupied by several theater companies producing different types of productions to serve multiple audiences.
I wasn't aware of the seasand issue, assuming that's the case as mentioned by someone. If the building must come down, then I wouldn't go through any effort to duplicate it. I always thought that was kind of silly. They did that on miami beach with a historic hotel thal collapsed during renovation/reconstruction.
Once a work of art is lost, there's little point to recreating it. Much of the value is in the historical structure itself. If your picasso burns up, having someone else recreate it, even perfectly, is a waste of money. The new painting is virtually worthless.
If in fact it must come down, then I would agree that they should do something new and original, but it should still have a playhouse element, up to codes, with the proper facilities etc etc.
"Civilized societies (sic) don't tear everything down every 50 years"? Says who? Madrid went through the same tearing of the garments when the "Mercado de Olavide" was demolished. Now, no one remembers it and we enjoy a beautiful park where that Market was before. Paris tore down Les Halles. London tore down a huge amount of "historic" stuff to build the East Bank and the Eye in the Sky. Berlin (thankfully) tore down the wall.
Every day, in every city, an ugly, or old, or irrelevant building is torn down to make room for another building.
The Playhouse can only be thought of as beautiful in a town sorely lacking in really beautiful buildings. It is pedestrian, old, decrepit and basically useless. I hope someone finally tears it down to build something, whatever, more beautiful.
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