April 27, 2008 09:01 pm
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By Debbie Robinson
news@joplinglobe.com
MIAMI, Okla. — Nearly eight decades later, a dream of George Coleman Sr. to finish the upstairs of the Coleman Theatre in downtown Miami for use as a ballroom just might be realized.
The nonprofit organization Friends of the Coleman will launch a fund-raising effort next month to raise about $800,000 to complete the restoration, said Barbara Smith, theater director.
The organization already has a $500,000 state grant that has been matched by private donations, she said.
The 6,000 square feet of upstairs space will feature seating for 500 for receptions or convention meetings, or can be partitioned to allow three smaller groups at any one time to meet, Smith said. New restrooms and a kitchen also are included in the design.
The project also will include an addition on the north side of the theater that will include an entrance, elevator, history area and lobby.
“It’s just going to bring the whole place alive,” Smith said.
The project will complete the original concept favored by Coleman, she said.
The upstairs space never was completed by Coleman because of his generosity to the local Masons, who needed a meeting space. During the group’s 20 years of meeting in the theater, Coleman died and the project was abandoned.
“It’s been empty for 50 years,” Smith said.
Oklahoma artist Charles Banks Wilson painted murals in the vacant upstairs that now are displayed in the rotunda of the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, she said.
The Coleman Theatre, originally a movie theater and vaudeville house, opened April 18, 1929, with a full house. Coleman, who made his money in mining, designed the interior in the style of Louis XV, with opulent carpets and chandeliers.
The theater was given to the city of Miami in 1989 by the Coleman family, and has been the site of performances including theater, silent movies and concerts.
The new restoration project will incorporate the original design, with chandeliers and silk panels.
The city pays insurance and utility expenses, but the Friends of the Coleman group is responsible for maintenance and restoration, Smith said.
“It’s a wonderful public-private partnership,” she said.
The presence of the Coleman brings visitors from around the world to Miami for tours, Smith said.
A recent visitor from Towson, Md., described the theater in a guest book as “very elegant.”
Amanda Davis, director of the Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the theater is a major attraction for visitors.
“Last year alone, we had people come from 26 countries,” she said.
Historic Route 66 lends to the mystique of the theater, Davis said. She said the theater’s renovation project will bring more visitors and groups to town.
“I really think this raises us to the next tier (of marketing),” she said.
To help launch the fund-raising campaign, Davis said she would like people who have special memories of the theater to send them to her.
“I’ve heard stories about people who met their spouse there and proposed there,” she said.
These memories will help keep the theater alive for future generations, she said.
Planning for the completion of the ballroom began in early 2005, Smith said. The organization hopes to have the project completed by early 2010.
“We’re just so excited about the potential for the community,” she said.
Donations
Donations of all amounts are welcome, said Barbara Smith, theater director at the Coleman Theatre, and can be paid over a three-year period. The names of larger contributors will be displayed on a marble wall in the main foyer.
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