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2008
April 22
Maggie Forbes, Executive
Director/Campaign Manager
Andrew Carnegie Free Library
and Music Hall
Dear Maggie:
Today, 2008 April 22, marks
the 106th anniversary of the official dedication, by Library Donor
Andrew Carnegie, of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall. As has
been my custom over the last several years, today is the day I provide my
annual monetary donation to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall of
one dollar for each year following the official dedication. Enclosed, please
find my personal check for $106, made out to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library.
Congratulations on the
$100,000 grant the Library received last month from the Allegheny Foundation.
It is my hope that this money will be used to truly restore the historic
integrity of both the interior and
the exterior the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall.
Thank you for your letter of
May 18, which answered some the questions I had earlier posed. Regarding
rehabilitation of the Music Hall you wrote, “We will almost certainly,
refurbish and keep some Music Hall seats for historic purposes. However, our
intention is to operate the Music Hall as a vibrant performance venue that
generates revenue. We are making remarkable strides in that direction.
Comfortable seating designed for 21st century proportions is
essential to that end.”
I am happy to learn that you
understand the historical significance of the original Music Hall seats, with
their rack under each seat designed to hold a gentleman’s hat. With this important history, it should seem
obvious that historical integrity of the Music Hall requires rehabilitating and
keeping nearly all of the original mahogany seats,
as this is the history that most specifically affects the public when they
attend an event in the Music Hall.
As Mark Fatla, former
Executive Director of the
The point is that the Music
Hall is, and always will be, a small venue. It started with 800 seats in 1901;
the Music Hall had 788 seats during my tenure as a Library Life Trustee.
Seating has been reduced further with the addition of an area in the balcony
for wheelchairs. Further reductions may be necessary, during the Music Hall
rehabilitation to provide for greater leg room.
A 650-seat Music Hall, by itself, will have a limited
appeal in drawing an audience, particularly if an audience can only expect
contemporary, generic seating as found in high school auditoriums.
Maggie Forbes 2008
April 22 Page
2 of 2
In any enterprise,
differentiation is the key to successfully competing for sales. What can differentiate our Music Hall from other
venues is the continued use of the historic mahogany seats, rehabilitated and
reupholstered for the 21st century! And, of course, using the
historic seats as a major selling-point for shows and audiences. This is
what was done for the rehabilitation of another venue of similar size and age
in 1995: Jordan Hall of Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music.
Attached, I have included a
copy of my Library memorandum of 2000 February 1, which goes into more detail
regarding rehabilitation of the historic Music Hall seats. I hope that you and
the Library Board of Trustees will consider my comments, before agreeing to
spend additional money to replace the historic mahogany seats of the
Sincerely yours,
Glenn A. Walsh
gaw
Attachment: Memorandum of 2000 February 1:
Restoration of Seating in the
Copy: Board of
Trustees, Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall
Diane Ragan, Library Director, Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall