 "Photo: Michael Spurlock")
 "Photo: Photo courtesy of the Preservation Alliance of west virginia")
The Keith-Albee is a landmark of Huntington’s downtown and is the scene of constant change.
An award ceremony took place Wednesday evening to honor historic preservation. The Hyman family was recognized for their dedication to preserving the Keith-Albee.
The theater has been under renovations for a few years. It was opened by the Hyman family in 1928-29 and stayed in their ownership until 2006 when they turned it over to Marshall University, which eventually decided to give it back and start the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center.
The Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center, also known as KAPAC, is a non-profit organization of volunteers who are responsible for the restorations. KAPAC met with a group from New York to review the building and came up with a restoration plan.
After the meeting, KAPAC realized they had the capabilities to do the renovations locally.
“There are a lot of things we have to do,” said Lyza Caldwell, member of the KAPAC board. “In a restoration you want to pick a time that you want to return to, and we are trying to return the Keith-Albee back to the 1929 vaudevillian storefront, to try and make it look like it did the day it opened.
“We are formulating a plan and were going to attack it so we can do things in the order that they need to happen to stabilize the building. And then we’ll go through and work on the exterior and we’ll work it through so the theater doesn’t have to go dark and work the construction around different venues,” Caldwell said.
Some small but important restorations have already taken place behind the scenes.
“They have done some work on the stage; they took the fly system, the system of pipes, pulleys and ropes that pulls the scenery up and down, and puts it down on the stage for stage shows,” said Derek Hyman, member of the KAPAC board.
One of the first major renovations planned for this fall is the entire building’s reroofing. This will protect the asset they already have, Caldwell said.
The group is also planning on replacing the display cases to bring them back to the 1929 style. The newest addition will be a handicap bathroom located stage right of the building so people can access the bathroom without disturbing a performance.
KAPAC has been working on two different sides of the project. One is restoration and the other is fund raising to pay for the projects.
“You have to decide how much is this going to cost, and what has to happen,” Caldwell said.
After finding out how much it will cost, KAPAC has a part of the board do the fund raising.
The restorations were also covered by a couple sources. First, it was given a grant from the governor. Then when “We Are Marshall” premiered in 2006, they used the funds from the receipts that were split between the Keith-Albee and Marshall.
“It raised quite a bit of money,” Hyman said.
Now the board has people responsible for fund raising and they are receiving grants, tax credits and donations. The largest contributor is the historical tax credits, which accounts for 40 percent of the project’s funds.
The Keith-Albee was built when Huntington was really blossoming as a city in the 1920s. Today it acts as an anchor to the downtown Huntington’s economy.
“It’s a destination,” Caldwell said. “The Keith-Albee is important to keep going because that will bring more people downtown, and it will bring more events into the area.”
The added foot traffic benefits surrounding businesses.
“This is very much like having a movie theater or a mall, where people want to build around it,” Hyman said. “You have a performing arts center like this, people are going to come down to it, they are going to go to dinner, or go to the coffee shop, and might do some shopping when they come in. It’s economical for Huntington. It helps to have the Keith-Albee here as a draw to the downtown area.”
The Keith-Albee is historically the last atmospheric theatre of architect Thomas Lamb, and it has been a affected so many residents’ lives.
“People who have grown up in Huntington, this has been a part of their lives,” Hyman said. “There isn’t a family that I haven’t run into who has one of their family members who has worked with the Keith-Albee at some point in their lives.
“The people of Huntington really feels like the Keith-Albee belongs to them. They will want to preserve it and keep it going,” Hyman said.
Michael Spurlock can be contacted at spurlock36@marshall.edu.
Be the first to comment on this article!