flexiblefullpage
billboard
interstitial1
catfish1
Currently Reading

Sun Theater serves the youth of St. Louis

Reconstruction Awards

Sun Theater serves the youth of St. Louis

Lawrence Group and property owner TLG Beaux Arts raised $11 million to restore the 26,000-sf theater into a modern performance venue.


By Robert Cassidy, Executive Editor   | November 18, 2015
Sun Theater serves the youth of St. Louis

St. Louis’s Sun Theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Photo: Michael Kelley.

Originally built in 1913 as the German-language Victoria Theatre, St. Louis’s Sun Theater locked its doors in 1981. Over the next four decades, water damage buckled the roof, the exterior cornice collapsed, six inches of fallen plaster covered the floor, and tree roots gnarled at the west wall. What Mother Nature didn’t destroy, vandals did.

The dilapidated theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, only to make the city’s Landmarks Association List of Most Endangered Places in 2007.

SILVER AWARD

SUN THEATER | St. Louis, Mo.

Building Team 
Submitting firm: Lawrence Group 
(developer, architect, interior designer, GC, developer)
Owner: TLG Beaux Arts, LLC
SE: KPFF Consulting Engineers
MEP engineer: SSC Engineering
Civil engineer: CEDC
Theatrical consultant: Morris Architects Planners
Acoustical consultant: AcoustiControl

General Information
Size: 26,000 sf
Construction cost: $11 million
Construction time: January 2013 
to March 2014
Delivery method: Design-bid-build

A few years ago, designer/developer/GC Lawrence Group and property owner TLG Beaux Arts rallied the Midtown Historic District community in a bold restoration effort. Pulling together a package of federal and state tax credits, low-interest deeds of trust, and other financing mechanisms, plus a $2 million low-interest loan from a benefactor, they raised $11 million to restore the 26,000-sf theater into a modern performance venue, with an adjacent charter school, Grand Center Arts Academy, as primary tenant.

Plaster restoration was led by Woemmel Plastering Co., the same firm that helped build the original building. Nearly half the original plaster detailing in the main theater was preserved. Heavily damaged areas were replicated to their original state, using methods nearly identical those used in 1912. (One of the craftsmen, Steve Foster, was the great-grandson of one of the original plasterers.)

On the exterior, the entire signature cornice had to be removed and preserved for replication. Molds were made from the original pieces to create exact replicas of the original.

All this work led to the creation of a modern performance venue and performing arts center used primarily by the charter school, which serves at-risk youth with after-school activities related to the arts. The theater and multifunction classrooms provide space for music and drama classes and performances.

In St. Louis, a city struggling with racial tension, Grand Center Arts Academy has become one of the most racially integrated schools in the metro region, attracting middle- and upper-middle-class students, many of whom self-identify as white, in a flow of reverse desegregation. The 535-student school ranks in the top three of all charter school performance metrics in the St. Louis area.

The Sun reopened last May, even though more work still needs to be done on the lighting and sound systems. In homage to the theater’s historic past, the program included a pantomime of Goethe’s “Faust,” a vaudeville act, and a gospel choir, but not another art form that it once hosted: burlesque. 

 

Sun Theater, in St. Louis’s Midtown Historic District, before restoration (above). After suffering through decades of neglect, the original 1,800-seat German-language theater was converted to a 600-seat performance hall, with classrooms for music and arts for the adjacent Grand Center Arts Academy charter school. Photo: Michael Kelley.

Related Stories

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 16, 2015

Lumberyard turned into Chicago charter school

While the existing structures were in poor condition, the Building Team preserved and restored 75% of the spaces and incorporated historic elements in the final design of the Intrinsic School on Chicago's Northwest side.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 12, 2015

Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School grows with the times

The 251-year-old NYC school was a design-build project that overcame issues like tight space and zoning appeals during its redevelopment.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 10, 2015

Restoration of the Whitney Building provides hope for Detroit

Four years ago, Whitney Partners purchased the 253,000-sf Whitney for $3.3 million. Their mission was to turn the 19-story structure into a mixed-use hotel, rental apartment, and retail center that would serve as a reminder of more prosperous times in Detroit’s past.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 9, 2015

University of Chicago uses space economically with Saieh Hall

The five-story, 100,000-sf seminary was converted into a modern education facility that would be fully integrated into the university’s Hyde Park campus. The project demonstrated the university’s commitment to finding a balance between new construction and adaptive reuse of historically significant buildings.

Reconstruction Awards | Nov 9, 2015

King of kings: Classic brooklyn movie theater stages a return engagement

The theater, which withstood vacancy, neglect and vandalism, has been redeveloped with a goal: balance preservation with the creation of a modern performance space.

boombox1
boombox2
native1

More In Category


Giants 400

BD+C Awards Programs

Entry information and past winners for Building Design+Construction's two major awards programs: 40 Under 40 and Giants 400



halfpage1

Most Popular Content

  1. 2021 Giants 400 Report
  2. Top 150 Architecture Firms for 2019
  3. 13 projects that represent the future of affordable housing
  4. Sagrada Familia completion date pushed back due to coronavirus
  5. Top 160 Architecture Firms 2021