Wheeler Opera House
Encyclopedia
The Wheeler Opera House is located at the corner of East Hyman Avenue and South Mill Street in Aspen
, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
. In 1972 it became the first property in the city to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places
, and the second in Pitkin County
.Osgood Castle in Redstone
was listed on the Register in 1971, a full year before the Wheeler. The upstairs auditorium hosts a number of events every year, ranging from nationally prominent music and comedy acts and some of the Aspen Music Festival's events to productions by local community groups.
It is one of two buildings in town named after early developer Jerome Wheeler. Originally, the opera house was located on the third floor, with retail space at street level and professional offices on the second floor. An early 20th-century arson
fire damaged the interior, and in its wake the theater fell into disuse. The building became property of the city due to tax default. Later in the century it was renovated several times, twice from designs by Herbert Bayer
, to bring it back into full use. For a while the Pitkin County Library was located in the building as well.
Today it houses retail space and a restaurant in addition to the auditorium space, and is one of Aspen's most prominent landmarks. The city funds its operations through a real estate transfer tax
that has built up a large surplus over the years. The Comedy Festival, then known as the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival, was held in the building annually from 1985–2007. Among the performers who have appeared at the Wheeler are Lily Tomlin
, Renée Fleming
, Phish
, John Denver
and Bill Maher
. Kate Hudson
made her debut there as an elementary school
student. Michael Hutchence
's last official live recording with INXS
was also recorded at the Wheeler, within a year of his death.
s. The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed with a mixture of modern and historic buildings, none taller than two stories, giving the Wheeler unchallenged domination of the skyline. To the west is a vacant lot. The terrain is level, with the lower slopes of Aspen Mountain
and the ski area's
base facilities several blocks to the south.
The building itself is a five-by-seven-bay
structure three stories tall. All three facade
s are faced in rusticated
peachblow sandstone
. The two-bay main entrance is on East Hyman Street, in the center of the south facade. An auxiliary entrance is located at the top of a short flight of steps in the corner facade. At the north end of the west facade is a three-bay glass storefront with entrance. A small addition, containing a stairwell, protrudes from that corner to the north. On the west end of the front facade is a narrow blind brick addition.
s. Above them a small continuous cornice sets off a plain frieze
with the word "Bank" in relief
above the door on the corner facade. Another, larger continuous cornice atop the frieze sets off the second story. Its windows are all single-pane double-hung sash with a broad plain surround; all except the center bays on the south are set in slight recesses that rise to an arched top on the third story. Those middle bays are set with three single windows in a larger recessed area.
On the third story all the arches are blind with triple-hung single-pane sash. On the west end of the south facade, and the second and third from the south on the east facade, the upper window panes are blind as well. The northernmost bay on the east facade is set with a smaller oculus
. The arches have smooth finishes.
Another cornice above a plain frieze serves as the arches' springline. From it in the center of the south story rise three smaller round-arched windows, triple-hung with the lower panes blind. Their surrounds have keystone
s. On either side of the three, a section of cornice and plain frieze coincides with the arches' springline to suggest the top of a pilaster
. Above the windows is another wide plain frieze. Just below it, in the northernmost bay of the east, is a group of three small windows.
The roofline has a denticulated pressed-tin cornice below broad overhanging eaves. The middle section of the south facade has a pediment
with similar cornice. Within its recessed entablature
is a blind oeil-de-boeuf
. The corner facade has a much smaller segmental semicircular top, and a very small pediment tops the northernmost bay on the east facade.
. The second story has back stage dressing rooms and the theater lobby, painted in Venetian plaster
with a mural
showing the building. Both interiors have been extensively renovated. In the rear is a fire stairway and elevator to make the theater accessible
. A stairway with red carpeting and imitation wood balustrade leads from the entrance to the auditorium. On display is the walk-in safe
Jerome Wheeler bought for the bank he had founded that once occupied the first floor.
The 503-seat auditorium is located on the third story, which rises to twice the height of the other two. Renovated since its construction, it combines its original period design with some modernist
elements. Seats are surfaced in Moroccan leather. The walls are decorated in an elaborate pattern of azure
and teal
and salmon
rise to a curved coffer
ed ceiling, done in azure with silver stars amid intersecting imitation wood, from which a chandelier
hangs. At the north end is the stage with a maroon-and-gold proscenium
and red velvet curtain. Above it is an emblem with Roman legion
naires' helmets and lute
s. The south windows offer an unobstructed view of the mountain, flanked by box seats.
A curved wooden balustrade sets off the balcony
, supported by salmon-colored
cast iron
Corinthian
columns. Two small side stages, decorated in Lincrusta
–Walton
paneling with a geometric design, flank the main stage at this level. Behind the stage are dressing rooms and a crossover to allow actors to change sides of the stage during a performance without being seen by the audience. This space also gives access to the fire stair and elevator.
efforts began in the mid-20th century, as Aspen became established as a ski resort town, and the affluence that attracted in turn produced more money for further restoration efforts.
s on a plain high in the Roaring Fork Valley
, Aspen grew quickly when silver
was found in abundance in the nearby mountains. During the Colorado Silver Boom
of the 1880s, its population soared and it soon incorporated
as a city. One of those attracted to the city was Jerome Wheeler, a Civil War
veteran who had married a Macy's
heiress. For a few years in the late 1870s he ran the department store chain after several major partners died.
In 1883, the Wheelers moved to Manitou Springs, Colorado
, to ease Mrs. Wheeler's ill health with mountain air. Jerome Wheeler heard about the silver strikes in Aspen, across the Continental Divide
, and invested in four of the mines. By 1888 he was so involved in mining that he sold his Macy's interest and moved to the boomtown
.
With the lucrative returns on his mining investments, he financed two monumental buildings that bear his name and remain standing: the Hotel Jerome
, Aspen's most prominent landmark to travelers passing through on what is now Colorado State Highway 82
, and the opera house, at the city's center. The ground floor housed Wheeler's bank, a barber shop and a clothing retailer. The second floor was office space, used by the bank, a mining company, a lawyer and a dentist. On the tall third story, higher than any other building then in Aspen, was the theater.
Denver architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke
designed a building that combined a basic Romanesque Revival
form with some Italianate
decorative touches
. It was built in ten months from June 1888 to April 1889 at a cost of $100,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). Aspen had been the first city west of the Divide to be wired for electricity, and the theater's chandelier took advantage of that with 36 separate lights.
The anticipation of its opening was such that local milliners
ran advertisements in Aspen's newspapers telling customers they were too overwhelmed to take new orders. Satin
programs had been scented with rose water several days. The opening night production was The King's Fool, presented by the Conried Opera Company. The Aspen Daily Times
praised the building as "a perfect little bijou of a theater."
Aspen grew larger and more prosperous the following year when Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
, mandating federal purchases of the metal. The population swelled to almost 10,000, the greatest ever. The Wheeler became a stop on a popular touring route called the Silver Circuit, working its way from Denver through Leadville
, over the Divide and through Aspen to Utah and eventually ending at Cheyenne, Wyoming
. Along it audiences got to see everything from Shakespeare and classical music to vaudeville
and boxing.
. Congress repealed the Silver Purchase Act, and mines closed overnight as demand dropped. Jerome Wheeler was forced into bankruptcy
. The theater he had built became a lot less busier.
Aspen entered a period of its history known as the Silent or Quiet Years. The population declined quickly as silver mining retreated to a much smaller role in the local economy. Ranching and potato farming took on more importance, but could not make up for the prosperity silver had provided. Within the city many very new buildings from the boom years fell empty and neglected. Some burned, unattended and unextinguished, or succumbed to decay from the effects of an intense annual five-month winter at 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) above sea level. The Wheeler survived primarily by showing movies, as that medium emerged.
After one of those shows, in 1912, a fire was discovered in the space between the stage floor and the dressing rooms (then located beneath). It was extinguished with minimal permanent damage and the theater was able to show another movie the following night. A week and a half later, another fire broke out in the early morning hours. Since it started in three different locations simultaneously, the cause was clearly arson
. It was hot enough to melt the steel cables at the stage. The community decried the act, and the Wheeler was boarded up. The lower floors remained occupied, but it would be years before the theater was used again. In 1918, an unpaid tax bill of $1,155 ($ in contemporary dollars) led to the city acquiring the building for that sum.
It did not restore the theater, however, as most of the productions that visited the city could be accommodated in Armory Hall
(now City Hall). In 1930
Aspen's population reached its all-time low of just over 500, less than 10% of what it had been when the Wheeler was built. Near the end of the decade some visitors, particularly Europeans who helped to train the "soldiers on skis" of the Army's Tenth Mountain Division in the area, saw the city's potential for recreational Alpine skiing
.
ended, some of the Europeans, and veterans of the Tenth, returned to Aspen to build a ski resort. They established the Aspen Skiing Company
with the help of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke
and his wife Elizabeth. The Paepckes, instrumental in the rebirth of the city, attracted major cultural figures to it with a 1949 festival to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
. The couple also started the Aspen Music Festival the same year. This was part of what they called the "Aspen Idea": a community where residents could "earn a living, profit by healthy physical recreation, with facilities at hand for [their] enjoyment of art, music, and education."
While planning these events, the Paepckes discovered the Wheeler and its neglected, debris-strewn auditorium. They led a community effort to clean it up and restore it. Austrian architect Herbert Bayer
, who the Paepckes had hired to design promotional materials for Aspen, designed a minimalist reconstruction that used Japanese lanterns strung across the stage as lighting and a bare stage. While this was enough to allow Lowell George
to make live radio broadcasts and an informal concert by folk musician Burl Ives
, it was nowhere near what the theater needed, and due to structural concerns the only events it could host in wintertime were movie screenings. A fire escape
had to be placed on the front facade
as well.
As a result of the Paepckes' efforts, Aspen continued to grow in popularity during the 1950s. The first renovations to the Wheeler were rapidly proving inadequate. Again, the couple commissioned a redesign from Bayer. This more comprehensive effort mixed elements of Bayer's Bauhaus
background with the Victorian flourishes of Edbrooke's original design. The box seats next to the stage were converted into side stages, the ceiling completely restored and the benches replaced with seats from an old movie theater. The walls were painted a deep red shade with a fleur de lys
motif.
and Goldie Hawn
. Their presence, and the success of the music festival, attracted more artistic and cultural organizations to the city. Space for them to present remained limited. At one point during the 1970s the Pitkin County
library was housed on the building's second floor. The wintertime restrictions on the auditorium remained in effect.
It was apparent that the Wheeler, which would soon be a hundred years old, was in need of a comprehensive renovation that would address all the structural issues. The Music Festival led the many groups lobbying for some way of financing the effort. In 1979 the city council levied an 0.5% real estate transfer tax
on all transactions within the city to fund the renovations. It took effect at the beginning of the following year, to remain in effect until 2000.
William Kessler & Associates received the commission for the $4.5 million project. In 1982 money from the transfer tax was used to purchase the adjacent vacant lot for a proposed expansion. Kessler's modernist
design, however, was ridiculed as an incongruous and unsympathetic "waving flag" and later dropped amid much community opposition.
Within the building, much was accomplished in addition to the structural restoration. The box seats, curtain and proscenium
arch were restored to their original appearance. Actual dressing rooms were built, along with a crossover behind the stage. The second story was finally established as the lobby and the corner space at street level was set aside for a bar. To its west, the entry space was converted into a box office, which the building had previously lacked. A passenger elevator was built to make the theater wheelchair accessible
. That allowed the addition of an interior fire stair, which in turn led to the much-desired removal of the fire escape. A restaurant, Bentley's, opened in the ground floor space where the Wheeler Bank had once been, with an art gallery in the corner space. Both businesses leased the space on an annual basis at below-market rates; the proceeds were used by the city to fund an annual arts grant
program.
Upon its completion in 1984, the rehabilitation was not as perfect as had originally been hoped. The lot next door remained vacant, a reminder of an expansion that could have been. The new box office's entrance was directly in the path of winds blowing down from the mountain, making it especially cold in winter. The lobby could only accommodate half of a capacity audience. And the removal of the fire escape had required the addition of a incongruous bump on the north facade.
These issues were overlooked when it came time for the grand reopening in May of that year. Festivities kicked off with a week of free tours of the new building. Performers included pianist James Levine
, cellist Lynn Harrell
, the Denver Repertory Theatre Company and the MOMIX
dance troupe. As a link to the building's past as Aspen's major movie house, the 1928 silent film
classic The Wind
was shown, with full orchestral accompaniment and its star, Lillian Gish
, by then 90, in attendance.
Renée Fleming
when she was a student in the Music Festival's opera program. John Denver, an Aspen resident, made many appearances whenever he was in town. The private Aspen Community School mounts its annual production there. In 1986 Goldie Hawn
's daughter Kate Hudson
made her stage debut there in a production of Alice in Wonderland.
Standup comedy, coming into its own in the 1980s, helped put the reborn Wheeler on the national map when HBO chose it as the location for its annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 1985. For the next 13 years comics would do their routines before the cable network's cameras on its stage. Among those who got early exposure at the festival were Bill Maher
, Dave Chappelle
, Lewis Black
and Margaret Cho
. Well-established names in comedy also played the Wheeler—in the late 1980s, Lily Tomlin
previewed
her one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe there for six weeks before its Broadway
opening. HBO later moved the comedy festival to Las Vegas, but the Wheeler has since replaced it with two other comedy festivals: the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival
, cosponsored by RooftopComedy.com, and the newer Aspen Laff Fest, run by the Wheeler on its own.
Prominent popular musicians also made appearances, two of which were recorded for live album
s. Lyle Lovett
played at least one show at the Wheeler every year. In February 1997, the Australian rock band INXS
came to the Wheeler to warm up before its world tour later that year. Six songs recorded at that show were released on a rare limited-edition CD, INXS: Live in Aspen – February 1997. Lead singer Michael Hutchence
died nine months later, making it his last official live recording. Seven years later, John Oates
released a combination CD and DVD of a show of his, John Oates: Live at the Historic Wheeler Opera House
.In 2012, Oates and the Wheeler are coproducing the 7908 Aspen Songwriters' Festival.
Renovations continue. In the late 2007 the faux wood finish in the auditorium was restored. This was followed by the repainting of the lobby, in which the Venetian plaster
and mural of the Wheeler were added. The transfer tax was renewed in 2000, and a strong local real estate market during the following decade left the Wheeler with $28 million in funds. A master plan calls for most of that to be spent on an expansion.
The Wheeler is planning to close for most of the latter half of 2011 for more renovations. Expected to cost $2 million, the project will focus on the basement offices and upgrade the electrical and plumbing systems upstairs. A new kitchen will be built for the restaurant space. The city put out a request for proposal
s for both the restaurant and gallery space. Nine local restaurateurs, including the owner of Bentley's, responded In March City Council awarded the lease to Fiercely Local, a group headed by the owners of four other local restaurants and a cheese shop. The final lease will have a base rent with an 8% of gross sales provision once business reaches a certain point.
. The current board chair is Ron Erickson; one position is vacant .
Executive director Gram Slaton heads a paid staff of ten. They are assisted by volunteers from the Aspen community. The theater is available for rent for private and public occasions, except during the period from mid-June to mid-August when it is mostly used by the Music Festival's Opera School. Shows and events are also limited during the Winter X Games, which have been held in Aspen annually since 2002.
Aspen, Colorado
The City of Aspen is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat and the most populous city of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the city population was 5,804 in 2005...
, Colorado, United States. It is a stone building erected during the 1890s, from a design by Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
. In 1972 it became the first property in the city to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
, and the second in Pitkin County
Pitkin County, Colorado
Pitkin County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named in honor of the late Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. The county population was 14,872 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Aspen...
.Osgood Castle in Redstone
Redstone, Colorado
Redstone is a census-designated place in Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The population as of the 2010 Census was 130.The U.S. Post Office at Carbondale now serves Redstone postal addresses...
was listed on the Register in 1971, a full year before the Wheeler. The upstairs auditorium hosts a number of events every year, ranging from nationally prominent music and comedy acts and some of the Aspen Music Festival's events to productions by local community groups.
It is one of two buildings in town named after early developer Jerome Wheeler. Originally, the opera house was located on the third floor, with retail space at street level and professional offices on the second floor. An early 20th-century arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
fire damaged the interior, and in its wake the theater fell into disuse. The building became property of the city due to tax default. Later in the century it was renovated several times, twice from designs by Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental & interior designer, and architect, who was widely recognized as the last living member of the Bauhaus and was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's...
, to bring it back into full use. For a while the Pitkin County Library was located in the building as well.
Today it houses retail space and a restaurant in addition to the auditorium space, and is one of Aspen's most prominent landmarks. The city funds its operations through a real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax is a tax that may be imposed by states, counties, or municipalities on the privilege of transferring real property within the jurisdiction. Total transfer taxes range from very small to relatively large . Some U.S...
that has built up a large surplus over the years. The Comedy Festival, then known as the HBO/US Comedy Arts Festival, was held in the building annually from 1985–2007. Among the performers who have appeared at the Wheeler are Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
, Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
, Phish
Phish
Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
, John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and Bill Maher
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and...
. Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
made her debut there as an elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
student. Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
's last official live recording with INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
was also recorded at the Wheeler, within a year of his death.
Building
The Wheeler is located on the northwest corner of the intersection, located roughly in the center of Aspen. To the south and east Hyman and Mill have been closed to vehicular traffic; both are now planted with shade trees and serve as pedestrian mallPedestrian mall
Pedestrian malls in the United States are also known as pedestrian streets and are the most common form of pedestrian zone in large cities in the United States. It is a street lined with storefronts and closed off to most automobile traffic...
s. The surrounding neighborhood is densely developed with a mixture of modern and historic buildings, none taller than two stories, giving the Wheeler unchallenged domination of the skyline. To the west is a vacant lot. The terrain is level, with the lower slopes of Aspen Mountain
Aspen Mountain (Colorado)
Aspen Mountain is a mountain in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado in the United States. One of the foothills of the Elk Mountains, it is located just south of the town of Aspen, which is situated at the foot of the mountain at the southeast end of the valley of the Roaring Fork River in Pitkin County...
and the ski area's
Aspen Mountain (ski area)
Aspen Mountain is a ski area located in Pitkin County, Colorado, just outside and above the city of Aspen. It is situated on the north flank of Aspen Mountain and the higher Bell Mountain at an elevation of 11,212 ft just to the south of Aspen Mountain...
base facilities several blocks to the south.
The building itself is a five-by-seven-bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
structure three stories tall. All three facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
s are faced in rusticated
Rustication (architecture)
thumb|upright|Two different styles of rustication in the [[Palazzo Medici-Riccardi]] in [[Florence]].In classical architecture rustication is an architectural feature that contrasts in texture with the smoothly finished, squared block masonry surfaces called ashlar...
peachblow sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
. The two-bay main entrance is on East Hyman Street, in the center of the south facade. An auxiliary entrance is located at the top of a short flight of steps in the corner facade. At the north end of the west facade is a three-bay glass storefront with entrance. A small addition, containing a stairwell, protrudes from that corner to the north. On the west end of the front facade is a narrow blind brick addition.
Exterior
All the windows on the first floor have round segmental arches and awningAwning
An awning or overhang is a secondary covering attached to the exterior wall of a building. It is typically composed of canvas woven of acrylic, cotton or polyester yarn, or vinyl laminated to polyester fabric that is stretched tightly over a light structure of aluminium, iron or steel, possibly...
s. Above them a small continuous cornice sets off a plain frieze
Frieze
thumb|267px|Frieze of the [[Tower of the Winds]], AthensIn architecture the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Even when neither columns nor pilasters are expressed, on an astylar wall it lies upon...
with the word "Bank" in relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
above the door on the corner facade. Another, larger continuous cornice atop the frieze sets off the second story. Its windows are all single-pane double-hung sash with a broad plain surround; all except the center bays on the south are set in slight recesses that rise to an arched top on the third story. Those middle bays are set with three single windows in a larger recessed area.
On the third story all the arches are blind with triple-hung single-pane sash. On the west end of the south facade, and the second and third from the south on the east facade, the upper window panes are blind as well. The northernmost bay on the east facade is set with a smaller oculus
Oculus
An Oculus, circular window, or rain-hole is a feature of Classical architecture since the 16th century. They are often denoted by their French name, oeil de boeuf, or "bull's-eye". Such circular or oval windows express the presence of a mezzanine on a building's façade without competing for...
. The arches have smooth finishes.
Another cornice above a plain frieze serves as the arches' springline. From it in the center of the south story rise three smaller round-arched windows, triple-hung with the lower panes blind. Their surrounds have keystone
Keystone (architecture)
A keystone is the wedge-shaped stone piece at the apex of a masonry vault or arch, which is the final piece placed during construction and locks all the stones into position, allowing the arch to bear weight. This makes a keystone very important structurally...
s. On either side of the three, a section of cornice and plain frieze coincides with the arches' springline to suggest the top of a pilaster
Pilaster
A pilaster is a slightly-projecting column built into or applied to the face of a wall. Most commonly flattened or rectangular in form, pilasters can also take a half-round form or the shape of any type of column, including tortile....
. Above the windows is another wide plain frieze. Just below it, in the northernmost bay of the east, is a group of three small windows.
The roofline has a denticulated pressed-tin cornice below broad overhanging eaves. The middle section of the south facade has a pediment
Pediment
A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of the triangular section found above the horizontal structure , typically supported by columns. The gable end of the pediment is surrounded by the cornice moulding...
with similar cornice. Within its recessed entablature
Entablature
An entablature refers to the superstructure of moldings and bands which lie horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and are commonly divided into the architrave , the frieze ,...
is a blind oeil-de-boeuf
Oeil-de-Boeuf
Oeil-de-boeuf, also œil de bœuf, is a term applied to a relatively small oval window, typically for an upper storey, and sometimes set on a roof slope as a dormer, or above a door to give light. Windows of this type are commonly found in the grand architecture of Baroque France...
. The corner facade has a much smaller segmental semicircular top, and a very small pediment tops the northernmost bay on the east facade.
Interior
Inside, the first story is given over to storefronts and the box officeBox office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
. The second story has back stage dressing rooms and the theater lobby, painted in Venetian plaster
Venetian plaster
Venetian plaster is a wall and ceiling finish using thin layers of plaster applied with a spatula or trowel which are then burnished to create a smooth surface with the illusion of depth and texture. Venetian plaster techniques include marmorino, scagliola, and sgraffito....
with a mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
showing the building. Both interiors have been extensively renovated. In the rear is a fire stairway and elevator to make the theater accessible
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
. A stairway with red carpeting and imitation wood balustrade leads from the entrance to the auditorium. On display is the walk-in safe
Safe
A safe is a secure lockable box used for securing valuable objects against theft or damage. A safe is usually a hollow cuboid or cylinder, with one face removable or hinged to form a door. The body and door may be cast from metal or formed out of plastic through blow molding...
Jerome Wheeler bought for the bank he had founded that once occupied the first floor.
The 503-seat auditorium is located on the third story, which rises to twice the height of the other two. Renovated since its construction, it combines its original period design with some modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
elements. Seats are surfaced in Moroccan leather. The walls are decorated in an elaborate pattern of azure
Azure (color)
The color bleu de France is displayed at right.Bleu de France is a color that has been associated in heraldry with the Kings of France since the 12th century.-Brandeis blue:...
and teal
Teal (color)
Teal is a medium blue-green color. It is named after the Common Teal, a member of the duck family, whose eyes are surrounded by the color.Teal is one of the initial group of 16 HTML/CSS web colors formulated in 1987, shown below....
and salmon
Salmon (color)
Salmon a range of pale pinkish-orange to light pink colors, named after the color of salmon flesh.The web color salmon is displayed at right.The first recorded use of salmon as a color name in English was in 1776...
rise to a curved coffer
Coffer
A coffer in architecture, is a sunken panel in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault...
ed ceiling, done in azure with silver stars amid intersecting imitation wood, from which a chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
hangs. At the north end is the stage with a maroon-and-gold proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
and red velvet curtain. Above it is an emblem with Roman legion
Roman legion
A Roman legion normally indicates the basic ancient Roman army unit recruited specifically from Roman citizens. The organization of legions varied greatly over time but they were typically composed of perhaps 5,000 soldiers, divided into maniples and later into "cohorts"...
naires' helmets and lute
Lute
Lute can refer generally to any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back, or more specifically to an instrument from the family of European lutes....
s. The south windows offer an unobstructed view of the mountain, flanked by box seats.
A curved wooden balustrade sets off the balcony
Balcony
Balcony , a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade.-Types:The traditional Maltese balcony is a wooden closed balcony projecting from a...
, supported by salmon-colored
Salmon (color)
Salmon a range of pale pinkish-orange to light pink colors, named after the color of salmon flesh.The web color salmon is displayed at right.The first recorded use of salmon as a color name in English was in 1776...
cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
columns. Two small side stages, decorated in Lincrusta
Lincrusta
Lincrusta is a deeply embossed wallcovering. A British invention, it was the brainchild of inventor Frederick Walton who earlier patented linoleum floor covering. Lincrusta was launched in 1877 and was used in a host of applications from royal homes to railway carriages. The linseed gel continues...
–Walton
Frederick Walton
Frederick Edward Walton , was an English manufacturer and inventor who invented Linoleum in Staines and Lincrusta ....
paneling with a geometric design, flank the main stage at this level. Behind the stage are dressing rooms and a crossover to allow actors to change sides of the stage during a performance without being seen by the audience. This space also gives access to the fire stair and elevator.
History
The history of the Wheeler parallels that of Aspen. Established with much fanfare during the city's initial boom years in the late 19th century, it fell into decline along with much of the rest of Aspen's buildings when the silver market crashed. RestorationBuilding restoration
Building restoration describes a particular treatment approach and philosophy within the field of architectural conservation. According the U.S...
efforts began in the mid-20th century, as Aspen became established as a ski resort town, and the affluence that attracted in turn produced more money for further restoration efforts.
1888–93: Initial construction during Silver Boom
First established in 1879 as Ute City, a rough settlement of log cabinLog cabin
A log cabin is a house built from logs. It is a fairly simple type of log house. A distinction should be drawn between the traditional meanings of "log cabin" and "log house." Historically most "Log cabins" were a simple one- or 1½-story structures, somewhat impermanent, and less finished or less...
s on a plain high in the Roaring Fork Valley
Roaring Fork Valley
The Roaring Fork Valley is a geographical region in western Colorado in the United States. The Roaring Fork Valley is one of the most affluent regions in Colorado as well as one of the most populous and economically vital areas of the Colorado Western Slope. The Valley is defined by the valley of...
, Aspen grew quickly when silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
was found in abundance in the nearby mountains. During the Colorado Silver Boom
Colorado Silver Boom
The Colorado Silver Boom was a dramatic expansionist period of silver mining activity in the U.S. state of Colorado in the late 19th century. The boom started in 1879 with the discovery of silver at Leadville...
of the 1880s, its population soared and it soon incorporated
Municipal corporation
A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which...
as a city. One of those attracted to the city was Jerome Wheeler, a Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
veteran who had married a Macy's
Macy's
Macy's is a U.S. chain of mid-to-high range department stores. In addition to its flagship Herald Square location in New York City, the company operates over 800 stores in the United States...
heiress. For a few years in the late 1870s he ran the department store chain after several major partners died.
In 1883, the Wheelers moved to Manitou Springs, Colorado
Manitou Springs, Colorado
The city of Manitou Springs is a Home Rule Municipality located in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The population was 4,980 at the 2000 census.Students are served by Manitou Springs School District 14 and Manitou Springs High School....
, to ease Mrs. Wheeler's ill health with mountain air. Jerome Wheeler heard about the silver strikes in Aspen, across the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
, and invested in four of the mines. By 1888 he was so involved in mining that he sold his Macy's interest and moved to the boomtown
Boomtown
A boomtown is a community that experiences sudden and rapid population and economic growth. The growth is normally attributed to the nearby discovery of a precious resource such as gold, silver, or oil, although the term can also be applied to communities growing very rapidly for different reasons,...
.
With the lucrative returns on his mining investments, he financed two monumental buildings that bear his name and remain standing: the Hotel Jerome
Hotel Jerome
The Hotel Jerome is located on East Main Street in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a brick structure built in the 1880s that is often described as one of the city's major landmarks, its "crown jewel". In 1986 it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places...
, Aspen's most prominent landmark to travelers passing through on what is now Colorado State Highway 82
Colorado State Highway 82
State Highway 82 is an 85.29 mile long state highway in the U.S. state of Colorado.-Route description:SH 82 provides the principal transportation artery of the Roaring Fork Valley on the Colorado Western Slope, running from Interstate 70 at Glenwood Springs southeast past Carbondale, Basalt...
, and the opera house, at the city's center. The ground floor housed Wheeler's bank, a barber shop and a clothing retailer. The second floor was office space, used by the bank, a mining company, a lawyer and a dentist. On the tall third story, higher than any other building then in Aspen, was the theater.
Denver architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby J. Edbrooke
Willoughby James Edbrooke was an American architect and a bureaucrat who remained faithful to a Richardsonian Romanesque style into the era of Beaux-Arts architecture in the United States, supported by commissions from conservative federal and state governments that were spurred by his stint in...
designed a building that combined a basic Romanesque Revival
Romanesque Revival architecture
Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...
form with some Italianate
Italianate architecture
The Italianate style of architecture was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. In the Italianate style, the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture, which had served as inspiration for both Palladianism and...
decorative touches
Ornament (architecture)
In architecture and decorative art, ornament is a decoration used to embellish parts of a building or object. Large figurative elements such as monumental sculpture and their equivalents in decorative art are excluded from the term; most ornament does not include human figures, and if present they...
. It was built in ten months from June 1888 to April 1889 at a cost of $100,000 ($ in contemporary dollars). Aspen had been the first city west of the Divide to be wired for electricity, and the theater's chandelier took advantage of that with 36 separate lights.
The anticipation of its opening was such that local milliners
Millinery
Hatmaking is the manufacture of hats and headwear, millinery is the designing and manufacture of ladies’ hats.-Notable hatters:* Gerard Albouy , often known by the name Ouy, a French milliner...
ran advertisements in Aspen's newspapers telling customers they were too overwhelmed to take new orders. Satin
Satin
Satin is a weave that typically has a glossy surface and a dull back. It is a warp-dominated weaving technique that forms a minimum number of interlacings in a fabric. If a fabric is formed with a satin weave using filament fibres such as silk, nylon, or polyester, the corresponding fabric is...
programs had been scented with rose water several days. The opening night production was The King's Fool, presented by the Conried Opera Company. The Aspen Daily Times
Aspen Times
The Aspen Times is an 11,500-circulation, 7-day-a-week newspaper in the ski resort of Aspen, Colorado with a history dating back to 1881.-History:...
praised the building as "a perfect little bijou of a theater."
Aspen grew larger and more prosperous the following year when Congress passed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was enacted on July 14, 1890 as a United States federal law. It was named after its author, Senator John Sherman, an Ohio Republican, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee...
, mandating federal purchases of the metal. The population swelled to almost 10,000, the greatest ever. The Wheeler became a stop on a popular touring route called the Silver Circuit, working its way from Denver through Leadville
Leadville, Colorado
Leadville is a Statutory City that is the county seat of, and the only municipality in, Lake County, Colorado, United States. Situated at an elevation of , Leadville is the highest incorporated city and the second highest incorporated municipality in the United States...
, over the Divide and through Aspen to Utah and eventually ending at Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne, Wyoming
Cheyenne is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Wyoming and the county seat of Laramie County. It is the principal city of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Laramie County. The population is 59,466 at the 2010 census. Cheyenne is the...
. Along it audiences got to see everything from Shakespeare and classical music to vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
and boxing.
1893–1950: Neglect, fire and public ownership
That era ended with the Panic of 1893Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893. Similar to the Panic of 1873, this panic was marked by the collapse of railroad overbuilding and shaky railroad financing which set off a series of bank failures...
. Congress repealed the Silver Purchase Act, and mines closed overnight as demand dropped. Jerome Wheeler was forced into bankruptcy
Bankruptcy in the United States
Bankruptcy in the United States is governed under the United States Constitution which authorizes Congress to enact "uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States." Congress has exercised this authority several times since 1801, most recently by adopting the Bankruptcy...
. The theater he had built became a lot less busier.
Aspen entered a period of its history known as the Silent or Quiet Years. The population declined quickly as silver mining retreated to a much smaller role in the local economy. Ranching and potato farming took on more importance, but could not make up for the prosperity silver had provided. Within the city many very new buildings from the boom years fell empty and neglected. Some burned, unattended and unextinguished, or succumbed to decay from the effects of an intense annual five-month winter at 8000 feet (2,438.4 m) above sea level. The Wheeler survived primarily by showing movies, as that medium emerged.
After one of those shows, in 1912, a fire was discovered in the space between the stage floor and the dressing rooms (then located beneath). It was extinguished with minimal permanent damage and the theater was able to show another movie the following night. A week and a half later, another fire broke out in the early morning hours. Since it started in three different locations simultaneously, the cause was clearly arson
Arson
Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...
. It was hot enough to melt the steel cables at the stage. The community decried the act, and the Wheeler was boarded up. The lower floors remained occupied, but it would be years before the theater was used again. In 1918, an unpaid tax bill of $1,155 ($ in contemporary dollars) led to the city acquiring the building for that sum.
It did not restore the theater, however, as most of the productions that visited the city could be accommodated in Armory Hall
Aspen City Hall
Aspen City Hall, known in the past as Armory Hall, Fraternal Hall, is located at the intersection of South Galena Street and East Hopkins Avenue in Aspen, Colorado, United States. It is a brick building dating to the 1890s...
(now City Hall). In 1930
United States Census, 1930
The Fifteenth United States Census, conducted by the Census Bureau one month from April 1, 1930, determined the resident population of the United States to be 122,775,046, an increase of 13.7 percent over the 106,021,537 persons enumerated during the 1920 Census.-Census questions:The 1930 Census...
Aspen's population reached its all-time low of just over 500, less than 10% of what it had been when the Wheeler was built. Near the end of the decade some visitors, particularly Europeans who helped to train the "soldiers on skis" of the Army's Tenth Mountain Division in the area, saw the city's potential for recreational Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
.
1950–70: Restoration and preservation
After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
ended, some of the Europeans, and veterans of the Tenth, returned to Aspen to build a ski resort. They established the Aspen Skiing Company
Aspen Skiing Company
The Aspen Skiing Company, known locally as "Ski Co", is a commercial enterprise based in Aspen, Colorado in the United States.-History:Founded in 1946 by Walter Paepcke, it operates the Aspen/Snowmass resort complex, comprising four ski areas near the town of Aspen...
with the help of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke
Walter Paepcke was a U.S. industrialist and philanthropist prominent in the middle-20th century.-Biography:A longtime executive of the Chicago-based Container Corporation of America, Paepcke is best noted for his founding of the Aspen Institute and the Aspen Skiing Company in the early 1950s, both...
and his wife Elizabeth. The Paepckes, instrumental in the rebirth of the city, attracted major cultural figures to it with a 1949 festival to celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
. The couple also started the Aspen Music Festival the same year. This was part of what they called the "Aspen Idea": a community where residents could "earn a living, profit by healthy physical recreation, with facilities at hand for [their] enjoyment of art, music, and education."
While planning these events, the Paepckes discovered the Wheeler and its neglected, debris-strewn auditorium. They led a community effort to clean it up and restore it. Austrian architect Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer
Herbert Bayer was an Austrian American graphic designer, painter, photographer, sculptor, art director, environmental & interior designer, and architect, who was widely recognized as the last living member of the Bauhaus and was instrumental in the development of the Atlantic Richfield Company's...
, who the Paepckes had hired to design promotional materials for Aspen, designed a minimalist reconstruction that used Japanese lanterns strung across the stage as lighting and a bare stage. While this was enough to allow Lowell George
Lowell George
Lowell Thomas George was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, who was the main guitarist and songwriter for the rock band Little Feat.- Early years :...
to make live radio broadcasts and an informal concert by folk musician Burl Ives
Burl Ives
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
, it was nowhere near what the theater needed, and due to structural concerns the only events it could host in wintertime were movie screenings. A fire escape
Fire escape
A fire escape is a special kind of emergency exit, usually mounted to the outside of a building or occasionally inside but separate from the main areas of the building. It provides a method of escape in the event of a fire or other emergency that makes the stairwells inside a building inaccessible...
had to be placed on the front facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
as well.
As a result of the Paepckes' efforts, Aspen continued to grow in popularity during the 1950s. The first renovations to the Wheeler were rapidly proving inadequate. Again, the couple commissioned a redesign from Bayer. This more comprehensive effort mixed elements of Bayer's Bauhaus
Bauhaus
', commonly known simply as Bauhaus, was a school in Germany that combined crafts and the fine arts, and was famous for the approach to design that it publicized and taught. It operated from 1919 to 1933. At that time the German term stood for "School of Building".The Bauhaus school was founded by...
background with the Victorian flourishes of Edbrooke's original design. The box seats next to the stage were converted into side stages, the ceiling completely restored and the benches replaced with seats from an old movie theater. The walls were painted a deep red shade with a fleur de lys
Fleur de Lys
Fleur de Lys is a superheroine from Quebec and an ally of Northguard, created in 1984 by Mark Shainblum and Gabriel Morrissette. The name of the character is inspired by the heraldic symbol of the fleur de lys. It is the official emblem of Quebec and a prominent part of the Flag of Quebec...
motif.
1970–83: Rehabilitation and festivals
Aspen's continued increase in popularity attracted more year-round residents, among whom were celebrities like John DenverJohn Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
and Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
. Their presence, and the success of the music festival, attracted more artistic and cultural organizations to the city. Space for them to present remained limited. At one point during the 1970s the Pitkin County
Pitkin County, Colorado
Pitkin County is one of the 64 counties of the State of Colorado of the United States. The county is named in honor of the late Colorado Governor Frederick Walker Pitkin. The county population was 14,872 at U.S. Census 2000. The county seat is Aspen...
library was housed on the building's second floor. The wintertime restrictions on the auditorium remained in effect.
It was apparent that the Wheeler, which would soon be a hundred years old, was in need of a comprehensive renovation that would address all the structural issues. The Music Festival led the many groups lobbying for some way of financing the effort. In 1979 the city council levied an 0.5% real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax
Real estate transfer tax is a tax that may be imposed by states, counties, or municipalities on the privilege of transferring real property within the jurisdiction. Total transfer taxes range from very small to relatively large . Some U.S...
on all transactions within the city to fund the renovations. It took effect at the beginning of the following year, to remain in effect until 2000.
William Kessler & Associates received the commission for the $4.5 million project. In 1982 money from the transfer tax was used to purchase the adjacent vacant lot for a proposed expansion. Kessler's modernist
Modern architecture
Modern architecture is generally characterized by simplification of form and creation of ornament from the structure and theme of the building. It is a term applied to an overarching movement, with its exact definition and scope varying widely...
design, however, was ridiculed as an incongruous and unsympathetic "waving flag" and later dropped amid much community opposition.
Within the building, much was accomplished in addition to the structural restoration. The box seats, curtain and proscenium
Proscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
arch were restored to their original appearance. Actual dressing rooms were built, along with a crossover behind the stage. The second story was finally established as the lobby and the corner space at street level was set aside for a bar. To its west, the entry space was converted into a box office, which the building had previously lacked. A passenger elevator was built to make the theater wheelchair accessible
Accessibility
Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible. Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" and benefit from some system or entity...
. That allowed the addition of an interior fire stair, which in turn led to the much-desired removal of the fire escape. A restaurant, Bentley's, opened in the ground floor space where the Wheeler Bank had once been, with an art gallery in the corner space. Both businesses leased the space on an annual basis at below-market rates; the proceeds were used by the city to fund an annual arts grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
program.
Upon its completion in 1984, the rehabilitation was not as perfect as had originally been hoped. The lot next door remained vacant, a reminder of an expansion that could have been. The new box office's entrance was directly in the path of winds blowing down from the mountain, making it especially cold in winter. The lobby could only accommodate half of a capacity audience. And the removal of the fire escape had required the addition of a incongruous bump on the north facade.
These issues were overlooked when it came time for the grand reopening in May of that year. Festivities kicked off with a week of free tours of the new building. Performers included pianist James Levine
James Levine
James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...
, cellist Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell is an American classical cellist.-Biography:Harrell was born in New York City of musician parents; his father was the baritone Mack Harrell and his mother, Marjorie Fulton, was a violinist. At the age of eight he decided to learn to play the cello. When Lynn was 12, his family moved...
, the Denver Repertory Theatre Company and the MOMIX
Momix
MOMIX is a company of dancer-illusionists known internationally for presenting work of exceptional inventiveness and physical beauty. For 30 years, MOMIX has been celebrated for its ability to conjure up a world of surrealistic images using props, light, shadow, humor and the human body.Under the...
dance troupe. As a link to the building's past as Aspen's major movie house, the 1928 silent film
Silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound, especially with no spoken dialogue. In silent films for entertainment the dialogue is transmitted through muted gestures, pantomime and title cards...
classic The Wind
The Wind
The Wind is a 1928 American dramatic silent film directed by Victor Sjöström. The movie was adapted by Frances Marion from the novel The Wind written by Dorothy Scarborough. It features Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Montagu Love, Dorothy Cumming, and others...
was shown, with full orchestral accompaniment and its star, Lillian Gish
Lillian Gish
Lillian Diana Gish was an American stage, screen and television actress whose film acting career spanned 75 years, from 1912 to 1987....
, by then 90, in attendance.
1984–present: Festivals and acclaim
With the theater now fully capable of hosting all types of performances year-round, it became a popular venue. The Music Festival continued to hold many of its annual performances there. Audiences at productions in the mid-1980s were among the first to hear lyric sopranoLyric soprano
A lyric soprano is a type of operatic soprano that has a warm quality with a bright, full timbre which can be heard over an orchestra. The lyric soprano voice generally has a higher tessitura than a soubrette and usually plays ingenues and other sympathetic characters in opera. Lyric sopranos have...
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
when she was a student in the Music Festival's opera program. John Denver, an Aspen resident, made many appearances whenever he was in town. The private Aspen Community School mounts its annual production there. In 1986 Goldie Hawn
Goldie Hawn
Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, film director, producer, and occasional singer. Hawn is known for her roles in Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, Private Benjamin, Foul Play, Overboard, Bird on a Wire, Death Becomes Her, The First Wives Club, and Cactus Flower, for which she won the 1969...
's daughter Kate Hudson
Kate Hudson
Kate Garry Hudson is an American actress. She came to prominence in 2001 after winning a Golden Globe and receiving several nominations, including a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, for her role in Almost Famous. She then starred in the hit film How to Lose a Guy in 10...
made her stage debut there in a production of Alice in Wonderland.
Standup comedy, coming into its own in the 1980s, helped put the reborn Wheeler on the national map when HBO chose it as the location for its annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 1985. For the next 13 years comics would do their routines before the cable network's cameras on its stage. Among those who got early exposure at the festival were Bill Maher
Bill Maher
William "Bill" Maher, Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, television host, political commentator, author and actor. Before his current role as the host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Maher hosted a similar late-night talk show called Politically Incorrect originally on Comedy Central and...
, Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His...
, Lewis Black
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black is an American stand-up comedian, author, playwright, social critic and actor. He is known for his comedy style, which often includes simulating a mental breakdown, or an increasingly angry rant, ridiculing history, politics, religion, trends and cultural phenomena...
and Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho
Margaret Cho is an American comedian, fashion designer, actress, author, and recording artist. Cho is best known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially those pertaining to race and sexuality. She has also directed and appeared in music...
. Well-established names in comedy also played the Wheeler—in the late 1980s, Lily Tomlin
Lily Tomlin
Mary Jean "Lily" Tomlin is an American actress, comedienne, writer, and producer. Tomlin has been a major force in American comedy since the late 1960's when she began a career as a stand up comedian and became a featured performer on television's Laugh-in...
previewed
Preview (theatre)
Previews are a set of public performances of a theatrical presentation that precede its official opening. The purpose of previews is to allow the director and crew to identify problems and opportunities for improvement that weren't found during rehearsals and to make adjustments before critics are...
her one-woman show The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe there for six weeks before its Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
opening. HBO later moved the comedy festival to Las Vegas, but the Wheeler has since replaced it with two other comedy festivals: the Aspen RooftopComedy Festival
Aspen RooftopComedy Festival
-History:The Aspen RooftopComedy Festival is a stand-up comedy festival that was held annually in Aspen, Colorado on or around the Memorial Day Weekend. The festival is the concept of Roxane Davis and the City Of Aspen...
, cosponsored by RooftopComedy.com, and the newer Aspen Laff Fest, run by the Wheeler on its own.
Prominent popular musicians also made appearances, two of which were recorded for live album
Live album
A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...
s. Lyle Lovett
Lyle Lovett
Lyle Pearce Lovett is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Active since 1980, he has recorded thirteen albums and released 21 singles to date, including his highest entry, the number 10 chart hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, "Cowboy Man"...
played at least one show at the Wheeler every year. In February 1997, the Australian rock band INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
came to the Wheeler to warm up before its world tour later that year. Six songs recorded at that show were released on a rare limited-edition CD, INXS: Live in Aspen – February 1997. Lead singer Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
died nine months later, making it his last official live recording. Seven years later, John Oates
John Oates
John William Oates is an American rock, R&B and soul guitarist, musician, songwriter and producer best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates ....
released a combination CD and DVD of a show of his, John Oates: Live at the Historic Wheeler Opera House
John Oates: Live at the Historic Wheeler Opera House
John Oates: Live At The Historic Wheeler Opera House is a DVD by John Oates that was released May 4, 2004. It features the band Little Blue and Jed Leiber....
.In 2012, Oates and the Wheeler are coproducing the 7908 Aspen Songwriters' Festival.
Renovations continue. In the late 2007 the faux wood finish in the auditorium was restored. This was followed by the repainting of the lobby, in which the Venetian plaster
Venetian plaster
Venetian plaster is a wall and ceiling finish using thin layers of plaster applied with a spatula or trowel which are then burnished to create a smooth surface with the illusion of depth and texture. Venetian plaster techniques include marmorino, scagliola, and sgraffito....
and mural of the Wheeler were added. The transfer tax was renewed in 2000, and a strong local real estate market during the following decade left the Wheeler with $28 million in funds. A master plan calls for most of that to be spent on an expansion.
The Wheeler is planning to close for most of the latter half of 2011 for more renovations. Expected to cost $2 million, the project will focus on the basement offices and upgrade the electrical and plumbing systems upstairs. A new kitchen will be built for the restaurant space. The city put out a request for proposal
Request for Proposal
A request for proposal is issued at an early stage in a procurement process, where an invitation is presented for suppliers, often through a bidding process, to submit a proposal on a specific commodity or service. The RFP process brings structure to the procurement decision and is meant to...
s for both the restaurant and gallery space. Nine local restaurateurs, including the owner of Bentley's, responded In March City Council awarded the lease to Fiercely Local, a group headed by the owners of four other local restaurants and a cheese shop. The final lease will have a base rent with an 8% of gross sales provision once business reaches a certain point.
Management
The Wheeler is governed by an eight-member board. Seven of those members are appointed by Aspen City Council to three-year terms; one member is an ex officio representative from Music Associates of Aspen, which runs the Aspen Music Festival and SchoolAspen Music Festival and School
The Aspen Music Festival and School, founded in 1949, is an internationally renowned classical music festival that presents music in an intimate, small-town setting...
. The current board chair is Ron Erickson; one position is vacant .
Executive director Gram Slaton heads a paid staff of ten. They are assisted by volunteers from the Aspen community. The theater is available for rent for private and public occasions, except during the period from mid-June to mid-August when it is mostly used by the Music Festival's Opera School. Shows and events are also limited during the Winter X Games, which have been held in Aspen annually since 2002.
See also
- National Register of Historic Places in Pitkin County, Colorado