"You never know what's what until you open up the walls"

Over the 2+ years we have been planning the renovation, this piece of advice has come to us from many people who have done major renovations on their homes or commercial properties, and it really is true. 

This morning, the north wall of the auditorium - a masonry wall we had hoped to reuse to save money - had to be demolished. Our structural engineer, after getting a close look at it and all of its cut-in openings and cracks, determined that it was not sound enough to support what we need it to support in the renovated building. Besides the trusses that will span the playing area (eliminating the need for the structural columns we just got rid of), this wall has to help support the new second floor over the Green Room/Dressing Rooms. It was too old, too brittle and just not up to the task. So, with a few slices of the saw, and a gentle nudge from the Bobcat, it fell.

In other news, the plumbing subcontractor has dug trenches and laid PVC pipe for the water we'll need. It's exciting to see the pipes that will feed our new Concession Services counter and the water fountains in the West Lobby. In addition, the slab at the rear of the building (formerly the Shop and Green Room) has been removed and new fill dirt will be brought in soon in preparation for pouring the slab that will support our new two-story building. 

Well, it finally happened today - the poles are gone! The two vertical i-beams that have always been called "the poles", and the horizontal beams they were supporting, fell to the ground this afternoon as the demolition phase winds down.

The "North Pole" and the "South Pole" have valiantly held up the roof over the playing space since MST moved into 2540 Times Boulevard in the early 1980s (well, probably since much earlier than that!), and whether a designer wanted them to or not, they've been a part of every set of every show that has been presented here. They were clad with wood and have been painted every color in the rainbow; actors have been suspended from them, tied to them, wrapped around them. Generations of actors have had to learn how to play to the three or four sides of audience while navigating around them. 

Some MST old-timers might feel a bit misty-eyed about losing them, but - in truth - getting the opportunity to remove them and raise the ceiling in the playing space opens a great big new world of opportunities for the actors, directors and designers. A "clean sheet of paper" can be used when a show goes into production and sight lines will never again be a problem.

Here are a few shots of Becky watching the beams fall today...

The "South Pole" went first:

And then the "North Pole":

And MST's now column-free theater!

Perhaps less dramatic but no less important, the demolition crew also cut the two new doors into the theater from the West Lobby. 

These new doors on the west wall of the auditorium replace the downstage right light lock "vomitorium" and the upstage right door to the backstage. They will help improve the way our patrons get in and out of the auditorium and how they proceed to the restrooms in the back of the building.

The distinctive "curved section" of the façade is finally gone, taken down with great efficiency by the crew. Have no fear, though; it will be recreated as part of the renovation and will be the home of two new exit doors: one door from the "West Lobby" and one from a new stair coming down from the second floor. This part of the building simply wasn't sound enough to support our new second floor so steel beams will be set in place to handle that load.

Our architecture firm, Studio RED Architects, has designed a clever and attractive way to subtly connect these two parts of the building and they've also sourced new brick to match the existing (too much of the old brick was in a poor condition to reuse).

Note: the hand-drawn rendering below is by famed architectural rendering artist Jack Hanna, who also happens to be a professor at the University of Houston. He graciously donated two beautiful renderings to MST that have greatly helped us see what the new building is going to look like. 

While big sections of the building have been demolished and it is being readied for its big renovation, it's fun to look back to the first time it was turned into a theater. The photos below are from MST's archive, and were scanned by the one and only Joel Sandel, longtime MST actor.

MST began to rent 2540 Times Boulevard, formerly part of a large dry cleaning operation, in the early 1980s after MST had outgrown its first home in the cafeteria at Autry House, the refectory for Palmer Episcopal Church, across the street from Rice University on Main Street (hence the name!).

Rebecca Udden and her devoted band of volunteers worked for over a year to gut the building and build out a performing space, a lobby, offices and an all-purpose backstage shop and dressing room. Becky recalls that the area that eventually became the stage had blown insulation that had to be pulled down. After the crew had attacked that unenviable task, the room resembled a moonscape, with knee-deep insulation covering everything.

Note that this was before the rental of the "curved section" of our building, where the patron restrooms were eventually built. For MST's first few years of occupancy, audience members who "felt the urge" during intermission were directed to a nearby bar to attend to business (and grab a drink!) before being called back to the theater for the next act.

Our current renovation allows us to really improve the patron restrooms at Times Boulevard. We'll have 4 stalls (instead of 2) in the Women's Restroom, and two urinals and a stall in the Men's Restroom - features that will make for much more efficient intermissions!

As the week ends, the demolition crew today focused on the rest of the roof of the apartment.

They carefully removed the second-floor glass and then pulled the cut-up sections of the roof to the ground in front of the building. I'm really amazed how much choreography goes into working in a very confined site like this. The crew works hard to make sure they're not damaging the walls we share with our neighbors. My (hard) hat is off to our demo crew!

They also removed the glass from the front windows. This will eventually be replaced by more energy-efficient glass and, in the meantime, allow construction materials to be easily delivered into the site.

They had hoped to start disassembling the i-beams in the theater, but ran out of time. Hopefully early next week is when they will make their exit from the stage!

Most MST patrons probably don't realize there was an apartment above the old concession area and the patron restrooms.

This space, which had also been used for retail and as a salon, was accessible by the curving stair that used to be on the front of the building (the staircase was removed due to its poor condition).

This space will now be incorporated into the theater building and expanded to the back of the building where our new Classroom/Rehearsal Room will be located. In the photo below, the second-floor windows you see are approximately where our new Technical Booth will be located and where our stage managers will look down on the action in the theater. At the front of the building, the second-floor space becomes an office that can be used for production meetings or small events, with a nice view of busy Times Boulevard!

It has started!

After 5 years of conceptual plans and two more years of space planning, designing and countless iterations, Main Street Theater's renovation has begun with demolition of much of its signature Rice Village theater building. Thanks to some of Houston's leading arts foundations and many generous individual donors, Main Street Theater (MST) is, quite literally, "raising the roof" to prepare for the future!

Comprised of two rather mismatched properties, MST's MainStage building (also home to many after-school classes and summer camps) dates from the last 1930s. Fashioned into an intimate theater in the early 1980s (after MST had outgrown its home in the cafeteria at Autry House), the building is ready for a complete overhaul: new plumbing, wiring, air conditioning - the works! New and larger patron restrooms, a new second-floor Classroom/Rehearsal Room, new dressing rooms and a dramatic, double-height playing space that, while still intimate, will bring a new world of creativity to MST's actors, directors and designers.

As you can see from the photos, our demolition crew has been busy stripping away layers of the building we can't reuse. The back wing (old dressing rooms and the Green Room) has been demolished; the former second floor apartment is being taken down; the roof over the auditorium is now gone, as well.

By the end of this week, the two pesky structural i-beams - that have been a part of every set and every show and caused some less-than-desirable sight lines at times - will be removed. But have no fear: we'll be re-purposing those poles in the renovated lobby.

Stay tuned for more updates!