{"id":8272,"date":"2021-08-23T11:01:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-23T15:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/?p=8272"},"modified":"2025-09-02T10:45:50","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T14:45:50","slug":"renovation-and-new-construction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/2021\/08\/renovation-and-new-construction\/","title":{"rendered":"Renovation and new construction"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=””]Published on August 23rd, 2021<\/em><\/p>\n

Back to This Week at Eastman<\/a><\/p>\n

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Late August is dark in the Eastman School\u2019s concert calendar, since most of the school\u2019s concert programming takes place during the summer session, which has traditionally ended with the first week in August. In years past, this period has been a time of renovation and new construction around the Eastman School.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1721403412276{margin-top: 20px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column width=”2\/3″][vc_custom_heading text=”1975: Renovations begin with a blast” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

On\u00a0August 27th, 1975,\u00a0this\u00a0workman was part of a team who were sandblasting the Eastman\u00a0School\u2019s fa\u00e7ade,\u00a0the first phase of work in a\u00a0two-year\u00a0renovation project. (Sandblasting, otherwise known as abrasive blasting, is\u00a0a procedure carried out\u00a0so as to\u00a0make even\u00a0rough surfaces\u00a0and\/or to\u00a0remove surface contaminants, resulting in a cleaner, smoother surface.)\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The previous fall, the Eastman School had announced plans for the large-scale renovation project, the first significant renovations to the physical structure since the 1920s. The project would last two years (summer 1975 through summer 1977) and would be comprised of several phases, each timed strategically so as not to interrupt academic activity and performances. Oversight of the project was assigned to Mr. Wendell Brase, Assistant Director for Administrative Affairs (served 1974-77). Funding for the work would come from two sources: from capital fund drives mounted by the University in the 1960s, out of which $3 million had been earmarked for Eastman School renovations, and from an Eastman School capital fund drive launched in the spring of 1975.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Eastman School contracted the Rochester firm of Todd & Giroux for design and supervisory responsibility over the architectural aspects of the renovation. Rather than providing new construction, the project\u2019s goals were to increase safety and to improve efficiency in space usage. These goals provided for such major changes as the following: modifying one wing of the third floor was to create three new faculty studios; creating additional storage space for the Sibley Music Library in the basement (remember, this was in the Swan Street building!); consolidating the various instrument repair shops on the fifth floor; building a new pedestrian passageway over Swan Street (the one connecting with the landing between the ground floor and Cominsky Promenade in the main building); and converting Room 406 to a recital hall, formally named Howard Hanson Hall. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25ba<\/span>Photos\u00a0by Louis\u00a0Ouzer.\u00a0 Scanned from the Louis\u00a0Ouzer\u00a0Archive, master negative nos.\u00a0R2076-8, 10, 37.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”8833″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403207890{margin-top: 40px !important;}”][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Background: Notes from Eastman,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>September 1977 issue.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1721403073897{margin-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”1981: A block is demolished” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”8972″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”8971″ img_size=”full”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

On August 25th, 1981,\u00a0demolition was underway on\u00a0the\u00a0city\u00a0block\u00a0beyond the Eastman School and Eastman\u00a0Theater \u2014that is,\u00a0on\u00a0the block\u00a0bounded by\u00a0Scio, Main, and Swan Streets to clear\u00a0space\u00a0for the planned Metro Center Parking Garage (since then renamed the East End Parking Garage).\u00a0Eastman School\u00a0Director Robert Freeman\u00a0was on hand to observe\u00a0the work.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The planned parking garage was to be part of a cultural district surrounding the\u00a0Eastman School;\u00a0,\u00a0which had formally\u00a0designated\u00a0Metro Center.\u00a0(Part of the\u00a0Metro Center\u00a0plan\u00a0would include\u00a0the\u00a0new YMCA building,\u00a0construction of\u00a0which had already been underway for several\u00a0months\u00a0across\u00a0from the Eastman Theater.\u00a0(While the name Metro Center was eventually dropped, that name is still visible today on a plaque inside the parking garage, and on the front exterior wall of the YMCA.) Today the parking garage serves not only personnel and students of the Eastman School of Music, but also employees and patrons of businesses in the downtown area at large.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25ba<\/span>Photos\u00a0by Louis\u00a0Ouzer.\u00a0 Scanned from the Louis\u00a0Ouzer\u00a0Archive, master negative nos.\u00a0R2976-5A, 26A; R2977-6A, 25A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Background: Eastman Notes,\u00a0<\/span><\/i>vol. 15, no. 1 (December, 1981)<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”stretch_row” css=”.vc_custom_1721404338305{margin-top: 20px !important;margin-bottom: 20px !important;padding-top: 20px !important;background-color: #f4f4f4 !important;}”][vc_column][vc_custom_heading text=”1987: Breaking ground for Eastman Place” font_container=”tag:h3|text_align:left” use_theme_fonts=”yes”][vc_row_inner css=”.vc_custom_1721404282850{margin-bottom: 40px !important;}”][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”8840″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403535357{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8841″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403551790{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8839″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403567029{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/2″][vc_single_image image=”8836″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403511141{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8837″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403500008{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][vc_single_image image=”8838″ img_size=”full” css=”.vc_custom_1721403522608{margin-top: 10px !important;margin-bottom: 10px !important;}”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1723222607190{padding-bottom: 20px !important;}”]On August 25th, 1987, the area around the Eastman School looked significantly different. Our first two photographs, taken from northwest corner of the intersection of Main and Chestnut Streets, offers a now-impossible view of the Eastman School\u2014actually the entire length of the building\u2019s fa\u00e7ade, when nothing else stood in the way. On the block where Miller Center now stands, construction had been underway for three months for the a building. The construction project represented the realization of a plan that served two interests: providing a new (and bigger!) home for the Sibley Music Library, as well as contributing to a cleaner, more commercially viable downtown. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>By the 1970s, over-congestion in the stacks of the \u201cOld\u201d SML on Swan Street had become a serious problem; simultaneously, the area immediately around the Eastman School had become dilapidated and down-market. Students, faculty, and concert patrons leaving the Eastman building were familiar with the sight of such transient businesses as The Pussycat Theater (a topless bar) as they left the school building. Revitalization of downtown Rochester was prioritized by both the City of Rochester and the County of Monroe just as the Eastman School was considering a solution for the SML. In early 1983, all buildings standing on the city block bounded by East Avenue and Main, Chestnut, and Gibbs Streets were demolished, and the ground was graded and seeded, to be maintained as an open block until firm plans had been laid for its redevelopment. In 1984, newly appointed Sibley Music Library Head Librarian Mary Wallace Davidson pledged a new library building as one of her priorities. A public-private partnership agreed on plans for a new building on the vacant block, to be called Eastman Place, to be shared by the SML and several businesses operating on the ground floor. The Eastman School mounted a hugely successful capital campaign to raise funds for construction.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Ground was broken for Eastman Place on May 15th, 1987, and construction proceeded for the next eighteen months. The new Sibley Music Library was opened to the academic community on January 30th, 1989, and official opening ceremonies were held on May 15th, 1989. The realization of the Eastman Place project marked a huge step forward towards the creation of an actual downtown campus around the Eastman School of Music.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u25ba<\/span>Photos\u00a0by Louis\u00a0Ouzer, August 25th, 1987. Master negative nos. R3611-4, 7, 16; R3612-7.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1723222554898{margin-top: 20px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”3″ css=”” grid_id=”vc_gid:1723222591049-43954e32-a0c8-5″ taxonomies=”18″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 25th, 1981,\u00a0demolition was underway on\u00a0the\u00a0city\u00a0block\u00a0beyond the Eastman School and Eastman\u00a0Theater to clear\u00a0space\u00a0for the planned Metro Center Parking Garage<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[19],"coauthors":[11],"class_list":["post-8272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-this-week-at-eastman","tag-august"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8272"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22008,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8272\/revisions\/22008"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8272"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/esm4.esm.rochester.edu\/sibley\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}