Grainfield Opera House

Below is an e-mail received by Janet Ziegler, a board member of the Grainfield Opera House. It demonstrates the uniqueness of our little community. Click on photo to enlarge it.



Wrights Hall of 1888
Ouray, Colorado

----- Original Message -----
From: Bryjka, Darius
To: ajzig@ruraltel.net
Sent: Friday, September 05, 2008 4:10 PM
Subject: Grainfield Opera House

Dear Ms. Ziegler,

My name is Darius Bryjka and I’m a project designer at the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. I am also spearheading the ‘got mesker?’ initiative, which focuses on the identification and increased awareness of the ornamental metal products produced by the Mesker Brothers Iron Works from St. Louis, Missouri, and those made by George L. Mesker & Company of Evansville, Indiana.
I am contacting you in regards to the facade of the Grainfield Opera House, which was manufactured by the Mesker Brothers in 1887. I was aware of the building for a couple of years now but at the time I wasn’t sure of its condition or how it compared to other similar facades in the country. According to your website, the building has been restored or is undergoing restoration, which is wonderful. I also know that there are few other Mesker Brothers facades that are of the same vintage and magnitude, both in scale and importance. I was recently in Ouray, Colorado, to present a program about Mesker products to the local historical society. We held the lecture in Wright’s Hall of 1888, which has a facade very similar to that of the Grainfield Opera House (see attached). To my knowledge, these are the only two facades to share this design in the country.
I am very pleased to see that local volunteers have embraced the building and that lots of work was done to preserve and maintain it. Its facade is important not only to the local community but to the nation. The Mesker companies had a tremendous impact on small town architecture nationwide and the facade of the Grainfield Opera House is in very small company of intact early examples of their work.
We maintain a website, http://www.gotmesker.com/, where you can find more information about our efforts to recognize the three Mesker brothers and their two companies. Should you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact me. If there’s something that I can do to help with the preservation of this great resource, I will gladly be of assistance.

Sincerely,

Darius Bryjka
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
One Old State Capitol Plaza
Springfield, Illinois 62701
Phone: 217.782.8221
E-mail: darius.bryjka@illinois.gov
http://www.illinoishistory.gov/
http://www.gotmesker.com/

Return Grainfield Opera House E-mail

----- Original Message -----
From: Bryjka, Darius
To: Janet Ziegler
Sent: Monday, September 08, 2008 9:42 AM
Subject: RE: Grainfield Opera House

Hi Janet,

Since I flew to Colorado I did not have a chance to stop by Grainfield, which I would have done if I drove. I think that you can definitely use the rarity of the building’s facade as an advantage. It’s not that there aren’t other opera houses that used Mesker Brothers facades, but the facade of your and Ouray’s are some of the earliest examples of their work still in existence and the facade designs are also unique. In the 1890s, Mesker Brothers changed and standardized their designs so their later buildings don’t look like your opera house. Even in 1887-88, this design with rounded upper story windows was unique among their offerings. This entire discussion about Mesker Brothers depends of course on whether someone cares about them or not. But since they were the largest, or one of the largest, manufacturers and distributors of ornamental sheet-metal building products, and their work can still be found in large numbers in every state, their impact is undeniable.
The Wright Opera House in Ouray is in a similar situation, with a local non-for profit trying to acquire the building and restore it as a performing arts venue. They are going after state and potentially federal grants that would fund a lot of the work. I have promised to help them in proving the significance of the facade in any way I can, and would be happy to do the same for Grainfield. A lot of the reasons for my going there was to increase local awareness of the facade as an important historic resource, since it faces uncertain times. I gave a lecture about the Meskers in the building and we also did a walking tour of downtown Ouray, which has 13 other examples of Mesker facades. This is exactly the intention of the ‘got mesker?’ initiative – to get people interested in the discussion of these buildings, and to ultimately increase their preservation and rehabilitation.
Please let me know how I can be of help. I will definitely let you know if I travel in your area so we can meet and look at the building.

Sincerely,
Darius Bryjka
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
One Old State Capitol Plaza
Springfield , Illinois 62701

Phone: 217.782.8221
E-mail: darius.bryjka@illinois.gov
http://www.illinois-history.gov/
http://www.gotmesker.com/

Grainfield Opera House E-Mail

----- Original Message -----
From: Bryjka, Darius
To: Janet Ziegler
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 12:10 PM
Subject: RE: Opera House

Dear Janet,

I think that the Mesker facade of the opera house is magnificent but I’m not sure how it alone can generate tourism. Even if you get people to go and see it, there has to be something else for them to do and to sustain their interest. That’s not to say that you shouldn’t try. I think that you can begin by creating some publicity about the facade and how important it is. You can use me as a reference and I’ll gladly talk to any reporter about it. Are there any local papers that you have a good relationship with that you can call up to do a story? Maybe you can get in touch with the Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science about the Mesker exhibit they held this year. Ouray , Colorado has borrowed some panels from the exhibit to display them at the local museum. Perhaps you can do the same; creating an exhibit that discusses the facade and the history of the Mesker companies could be a nice draw (?)
The building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, correct? I wonder how much the nomination talks about the facade. An interesting spin on the story would be to discuss how a building already recognized as historically significant acquires even more importance because of its rare facade.
These are just some quick ideas – there’s really no one solution here. I think that the facade can be used in many different ways and it’s up to you to take it as far as you want to.
Let me know how I can help.

Sincerely,
Darius Bryjka
Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
One Old State Capitol Plaza Springfield , Illinois 62701
Phone: 217.782.8221
E-mail: darius.bryjka@illinois.gov
http://www.illinois-history.gov/
http://www.gotmesker.com/