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Theater Gets a Historic Designation

by James Fuller, Daily Herald, August 17, 2005

 

A pedestrian walking past the Wheaton Grand Theater might view it as just another old building, worn down by age.

The marquee isn't flashy. The ticket office isn't glamorous. There's not even a large parking lot suggesting big audiences draws.

Theater board members have a different view. They prefer to think of the building as historic, a living testament to local glory.

Now the National Register of Historic Places is backing that view. The National Park Service will formally announce Friday that the theater has been added to the register.

Such a designation won't necessarily help restoration efforts. The DuPage Theatre in Lombard is the only other theater in DuPage County on the list, and it faces possible demolition after a recent vote by local trustees.

Wheaton Grand Theater board member Ron Richardson said his theater's fate will be much different.
"This will definitely help our cause in saving the theater," he said. "It tells everyone that this is a significant building."

Moreover, the designation could help secure more money for restoration, fellow board member Lou Margaglione said.

The theater opened in 1925, staging live drama and vaudeville acts and showing films.

More recently, it was strictly a movie theater. Since 1998, various attempts have been made to use the building profitably. It's been a venue for rock concerts and other live shows as backers try to raise money to restore it to a 900-seat performing arts center.

With the national register designation, the board will now shop for takers of the 20 percent investment tax credit the historic register affords them.

The way it works, Margaglione said, is if a business owes, for example, $100 million to the IRS in tax payments, that business can donate 20 percent of the cost to rehabilitate the theater. That works out to a $1.7 million donation to the theater, he said. The business then subtracts that $1.7 million from the amount it owes the IRS.

"We just basically raised our first $1.7 million," he said.

That, plus eligibility for more federal grants, bolsters the $8 million restoration project orchestrated by Ray Shephardson. He's restored several old theaters, and until the Wheaton Grand, all of them were on the national register when he began work.

Being on the national register certainly won't hamper efforts, DuPage Historical Museum Executive Director Jody Crago said. He would know. He works in one of Wheaton's four other buildings on the national register, the former Adams Memorial Library.

The theater board can do virtually anything it wants in the restoration process so long as it doesn't significantly alter the qualities that make the building worthy of being on the register in the first place.
Permissible changes would include the necessary bathroom upgrades the theater will need to once again accommodate large audiences.

The designation neither requires any upkeep nor blocks demolition.

Crago said the national recognition will also help the theater's ability to draw more visitors to the area.
"This certainly recognizes the architectural and historical significance of the (site) and the value that a national organization sees in it," he said. "It says, 'What a great building.'"

The theater board will host its annual meeting in a couple of weeks. Board members hope to post the national register plaque on the building at that time.

GRAPHIC: Historic Wheaton

Wheaton now ties Elmhurst and Hinsdale of DuPage County towns with the most buildings on the National Register of Historic Places. A look at registered sites in Wheaton:

  • Blanchard Hall, Wheaton College campus. Built in four sections 1853-1927; added to registry in 1979.
  • Former DuPage County Courthouse, 201 S. Reber St. Built in 1896; added to registry in 1978.
  • DuPage County Historical Museum (formerly Wheaton's first library, known as Adams Memorial Library), 102 E. Wesley St. Built in 1891; added to registry in 1981.
  • Trinity Episcopal Church Chapel, 130 N. West St. Built in 1882; added to registry in 1978.- Wheaton Grand Theater, 123 N. Hale St. Built in 1925; added to registry in 2005.

Sources: National Park Service, DuPage County, Wheaton College, Trinity Church

The Wheaton Grand Theater soon may be a revamped version of its current state thanks in part to funding options created by its new placement on the National Register of Historic Places.