Archives for Villa Chapel

Villa Chapel supporters hold (another) Easter event

At 1pm on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014, members of the Save the Villa Chapel committee of Preservation Erie will convene for the ninth year in a row at the corner of West 9th and Liberty to provide an update on the status of the landmark chapel. Following the announcement, a brief Easter Parade will be held to celebrate the chapel’s survival through another difficult winter.

On Easter Sunday 2005 a group of concerned citizens gathered to protest the rumored demolition of the Villa Chapel.  The resulting Save the Villa Chapel committee has held dozens of fundraisers, raised thousands of dollars, and worked to find an appropriate reuse of the building.

In 2009, Duncan Stroik, a University of Notre Dame professor of architecture and founding editor of Sacred Architecture magazine toured the Villa Chapel and admired the carved woodwork and stained glass saying that the historic building is “a gem that should be saved.” The chapel is on the National Register along with the rest of the Villa Maria complex. The convent and school have been converted to apartments, but the chapel remains vacant, unheated and leaking.

ImageIn 2010, in response to concerns that the chapel was “too far gone to renovate” an engineering expert from Pittsburgh’s Atlantic Engineering was hired to evaluate the building – he indicated that the chapel is stable, but in need of roof and “cosmetic repairs.”  In 2011, a reuse planning session (with stakeholders and architects Dave Brennan, Jeff Kidder, Richard Olaya and Ellis Schmidlapp) resulted in a 2012 re-use report drafted by KidderWachter Architecture and Design. The illustrated report details will be available at the Easter Sunday event.

Due to the chapel’s uncertain future, Preservation PA placed the Villa Chapel on its list of Pennsylvania at Risk properties in 2011.  Dr. Chris Magoc, while serving as Preservation Erie’s Board President, commented that a renovated chapel would “help stimulate community and economic development in a historic Erie neighborhood…”

ImageWhile jobs and tax revenues are crucial for a thriving community, Magoc and many others believe that saving the chapel is crucial to preserving our history, identity and sense of place. Mary Frabrizio McCarthy wrote in an Erie Times News opinion piece that Villa Maria grade school, high school and college students met in the chapel “to learn and sing the songs of our faith, songs that have stayed with us throughout our lives.”  Another Villa alumna, community leader Sally Carlow Kohler, commented that she has “been fortunate enough to have traveled around the world” but that she returned home to realize that Erie’s Villa Chapel “is one of the most beautiful anywhere!”

Preservation Erie and the Save the Villa Chapel committee believe that Greater Erie must both recognize the importance of becoming a wise steward of its many inherited treasures.

Civitas celebrates 10 years in Gem City on April 12

On Saturday, April 12 from 3-­‐5pm at Frontier Park’s LEAF building, Civitas is hosting a free event to showcase the community organizations they have co-­‐founded as well as the vital projects of these various groups. A display table format will allow the public to talk directly with organizers:

ALL ABOARD ERIE.  Julie Minich and Brian Pitzer will discuss efforts to improve rail and bus service, and will unveil the conceptual model for a Pennsylvania Higher Education Road Network (PHERN).  PHERN proposes to link colleges and universities through direct, frequent bus routes to foster collaboration between higher education faculty and their 20,000 students.

INNOVATION ERIE David Willoughby, Jonathan D’Silva and Eric Dahl will encourage attendees to consider submitting “good ideas” for new products to the Innovation Erie entrepreneurial contest by the May 14th deadline.  The grand prize is $2,000 in cash and thousands more in professional services including legal advice, marketing help, manufacturing guidance and rapid prototyping.

MADE IN ERIE MARKETPLACE Last year’s inaugural Green Friday Made in Erie Marketplace generated $5,000 in income for Greater Erie entrepreneurs selling locally produced music, food and crafts.  Organizer Stephanie Westley will be present on April 12th to discuss the next MADE IN ERIE marketplace event planned for the Masonic Temple’s Camelot Room on Nov. 28, 2014.

PRESERVATION ERIE Melinda Meyer, Eric Dahlstrand, Gail Corwin, Julia Nene, Cameron Robertson will discuss the on-­‐going inventory of historic properties and sell membership tickets to the Greater Erie Awards night to be held May 1 at the Masonic Temple Ballroom in honor of the YMCA, Kraus Dept. Store and the Remnant Shop.  The May 1 keynote presentation will be made by Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute in Washington, D.C.

RETHINK THE MCBRIDE VIADUCT Adam J. Trott and Michael Beightol will outline the rationale for using the proposed 1.2 million demolition funds to repurpose the East Avenue viaduct.  No longer viable to support dozens of 22-­‐ton trucks crossing over the CSX and Norfolk-­‐Southern rail lines, the McBride Viaduct is still open to pedestrians and bicyclists.  With work, the Viaduct can become an attractive path and park telling the story of the neighborhood and fostering East Side investment and redevelopment.

SAVE THE VILLA CHAPEL Barbara Crone, Audra Alexandra, Sue Moyer and Sheila Murray will outline the nine years of efforts to save the landmark chapel at 9th and Plum including fundraising, creating a website, fixing the roof and funding reuse plans.  Flyers about the April 20th Easter event will be available.

A collaborative “think tank” founded in 2004, Civitas has worked to creatively catalyze grass-­‐ root action in support of Greater Erie. Co-­‐founded by Edinboro University of PA art professor Lisa Austin, self-­‐taught urban critic Stephen Sonnenberg and organizer Laurel Swartz, Civitas has grown to include art historian Lindsey Gearhart and landscape architect Michael Beightol. The mission of the group is to undertake “aesthetic and functional interventions in public space” and has included work in urban design, zoning, preservation, transportation and economic development.

Preservation Pennsylvania Acknowledges Efforts to Save the Villa Maria Chapel

On January 17th, Preservation Pennsylvania published the 2011 Pennsylvania at Risk listing, a listing of ten endangered resources in the State. Villa Maria Chapel made the cut. Although it is currently an unused space, the Chapel has been an architectural cornerstone of its residential neighborhood since 1925. Over the last six years Save the Villa Chapel volunteers, a subcommittee of the Erie Center for Design and Preservation (ECDP), have held more than a dozen fundraising events, paid for temporary roof repairs and facilitated communication with the Chapel owners. In an effort to find an adaptive reuse plan and long-term steward for the property, Save the Villa Chapel Committee and ECDP hosted a day-long design charette for the Villa Chapel in September. The charette generated several reuse concepts (see Erie Times-News article), including plans for a restaurant, an apartment building with efficiency units and a combination venue with a day care on the ground floor and space above for events like weddings and recitals. See the proposal prepared by Kidder Wachter Architecture and Design here.

Preservation Pennsylvania has been a great help to the Save the Villa Chapel Committee and the Erie Center for Design and Preservation. We thank them for their support and acknowledgement!

Villa Chapel animation now on line


May 20th Preservation Month at TREC

The board of the Erie Center for Design & Preservation will honor Preservation Month by reviewing buildings in Erie County that have been recently demolished, successfully preserved and those that face threats today.  The evening will include the most recent (good) news about the Villa Chapel and a short animation by the local company, MoreFrames. Hosted by the ErieCDP, this 90-minute event is free and open to the public.   The Ridge Center at 301 Peninsula Drive Erie, PA 16505-2042 will open at 6:30; parking is available adjacent to the entrance.

Read more.