The Observation Deck

With the Detroit Theater's fate sealed, people have begun to turn their attention to saving another landmark, before it's too late.

Back in August the City of Lakewood held a community workshop to gather preliminary input from residents to help define a mission and key buildings for historic preservation. The Mayor closed that meeting with comments on the obvious interest in the Hilliard Theater Building.

Last week I attended a Block Captains' Meeting where the Mayor introduced the city's Housing Plan. Afterwards he took questions from attendees on random topics, including one following up on his committment to learn more about the Hilliard/Westwood Theater.

The mayor said he had met the owner, toured the building and found it to be in terrible condition with little potential for a theater given the industry challenges and lack of parking. Discouraging news for those that wax nostalgic as McDonald's moves forward with their plans to relocate to the Detroit Theater site.

Attached is a page from the Lakewood Historical Society's Tour Program Guide a few years back. I have some interior photos that were taken with the owner's permission. I will try to post them as well.

These are pretty lousy shots taken on an old phone but at least for those who have not been inside you can get an idea of the style and condition.

For more photos, check out photos from an old Lakewood Observer post.

http://lakewoodobserver.com/read/2008/1 ... otoGallery

Thanks Rhonda! Those are much better. Is LHS interested in preserving this property?

A few years ago I tried to orchestrate a historical renovation. I took a historic tax credit guru attorney and his construction partner through the building with the owner. At the time, which was a few years ago, the cost was well over a million to rehab just the theater part and not the entire building which included apartments and store fronts. Without parking there was no way to justify the numbers. They told me the only way to even come close would be if the silver coast was demolished for parking.

It is too bad the current owner didn't sell before it fell apart, some basic maintenance would have kept it in much better shape. It probably won't be long before it gets condemned and it has to be demolished, which will be a great loss to the city.

Let me start out by saying: the Hilliard Square/Westwood Art Theater is the most beautiful non-ecclesiastical public building interior ever built in Lakewood. (Anyone who disagrees, please post your choices.) Yes, it does need work, and Ryan, a million bucks would be a lowball estimate. The Detroit, for instance, would have taken about two or three million to keep it viable. As for the present Westwood owner, he bought the building 20 years ago, in not much different shape than it is now. He bought it to keep it from being demolished. At that time, one of the drug chains was looking at it. The owner is not a wealthy person, so he's limited as to what he himself can do. As far as "rebuildability", there are probably 30,000 different opinions in Lakewood, most not well informed. I look for people with experience, so my source is a man named Ray Sheppardson. He developed the art of theater restoration in the United States, right here in Cleveland. He redid Playhouse Square, and many other theaters around the country. He is THE expert. When asked if the Westwood was too far gone, he laughed and told me about some of the really bad ones he worked on, including the Ohio in Playhouse Square. In the scope of theater restoration, this place is nothing out of the ordinary. What is out of the ordinary is the beauty of the interior of the building. Head and shoulders above the ten or so other theaters in Lakewood, and rivaled only by the Granada on the west side, and the Palace and the Hippodrome downtown. The loss of this building would be a crime.

Meg, as a long time member of the Lakewood Historical Society, I think I could speak for all of it's members and say that we would be thrilled to see something positive happen with the Hilliard Square/Westwood.

Meg, are you sure the mayor has been in there?

Michael Loje wrote:Meg, are you sure the mayor has been in there?

No, but his response to the question raised at the Block Club Captains' Meeting led me to believe that he had looked into it and had seen it with his own eyes. Perhaps he was just sharing what he had heard from others about the condition and I misunderstood. Either way, I sensed he was dismissing the likelihood of finding anyone willing to take on its preservation.

I think it would take a concerned well-organized citizen group, willing to work to raise serious money, to get this started. While the Lakewood Historical Society would, I feel, offer support, raising capital to preserve structures has not been a priority of the organization in the past. Just my opinion.

I know the perfect guy for the job!

Check out his resume.



Do you think we could convince him to take this on?

He wasn't interested in the Detroit Theater and I understand he supported the McDonald's move to Detroit.

What do you think?

I can see how you might have thought I was joking...but honestly I was unaware that we had this expertise right here in Lakewood until he started campaigning for school board. Tom would be a huge asset to a preservation committee. I hope he considers.

Grace O'Malley wrote::lol:

He wasn't interested in the Detroit Theater and I understand he supported the McDonald's move to Detroit.

What do you think?

A vote by the Planning Commission to approve the design of a building on a lot that's already purchased doesn't connote approval of the deal that got it there. Or are you aware of other public statements he's made to the contrary.

It just annoys me that people think the Planning Commission had any power to stop the deal. As long as the design McDonald's submitted met the standards they'd apply to any other business in town, what business would he have had to vote no on it?

McDonalds has not yet purchased the property. it is still in the theater owner's name.