Please save this magnificent piece of history. To demolish would be a sacrilege!
S
Shirley Wood
11 years ago
Preserving history is essential and buildings are very important in this effort.
S
Sandra Finley
11 years ago
I love chautauqa
C
Charles F. Miller
11 years ago
I have always wanted to go to Chautauqua. But after reading in today's paper about the plan to destroy its most historic structure, I now doubt whether I will ever go. If this happens, Chautauqua will certainly move way down on my list of places to visit!
B
Bruce Mountjoy
11 years ago
To lose this beautiful and historic building would be a tragedy. We are the stewards of historic items like the amphitheatre, and it is our responsibility to preserve them for future generations. If a modern building is needed, by all mean build it, but don't sacrifice the past for the future.
D
Dennis N. Persin
11 years ago
Keep the amp! Don't destroy the memories and glue that makes us all return!
D
Diane K. Persin
11 years ago
The amp is the heart of Chautauqua! Where are they thinking? Leave thus grand old dame alone and think of other ways of attracting people to thus wonderful place!
R
Regan Fetterolf
11 years ago
The amp experience is part of the Chautauqua "brand" and its values. But that brand encompasses far more than just the speaker or performance - it is about the viewer participating in a historical legacy that connects him/her with others in the present. Sitting in those uncomfortable seats that others have sat in for generations before is what makes it so special. Renovations, roof and backstage - yes! Tear down and reconstruct - absolutely not
F
Frank C Glazer
11 years ago
Simply look to the legacy of European history!
D
Deborah Hetrick Catanese
11 years ago
There are few venues, or places for that matter, that have the intimacy and welcoming comfort that the historic Amphitheater provides to anyone who takes a seat in its beautiful house. Its link to days past is not stodgy but a tangible picture of how past innovation and creation can hold promise towards our future. While reading the Pittsburgh Post Gazette article about the Chautauqua's Board plans to demolish this still vibrant piece of history while wanting to encourage young people to explore the Institute, I was struck by what an amazingly lost opportunity for the coming generations the demolition would be. Instead, imagine what an engagement of young innovative minds towards integration of technology into a spectacular and still vibrant venue would provide for all of us? A willingness to take on the difficult challenges with creative new ideas? An honoring of our past while we push forward into the future, preserving and updating, instead of destroying? In the PG article, this beloved Amp is described as "clearly inadequate"? Perhaps it is not the building that is inadequate but the vision, or the lack thereof. This is not a matter of needing to change a lightbulb. That is belittling the situation. We already know we can keep the lamps and innovate the bulbs! (BTW - I'm reminded of Edison's home on the Chautauqua grounds...anyone planning on tearing down that one, too?)
G
Gail Hoff
11 years ago
The amp is in a historic preservation district. Let's preserve it.
I
Ian Nitschke
11 years ago
The Chautauqua Institution should sensitively restore the Amphitheater that has been a vital part of their remarkable history.
L
lily Nagle
11 years ago
please do not demolish the amphitheater, it is a very big part of the institution
E
Ermyn France King
11 years ago
As a person with five generations of family history at Chautauqua and a storehouse of historic Amp memories (e.g., sitting for hours awaiting the appearance of Robert F. Kennedy, hearing Marian Anderson sing, Van Cliburn play the piano, and other public figures speak, preach, and perform before overflow crowds), I'm taken aback that the Amp renewal plan on the table involves extensive demolition. Meanwhile, another National Historic Landmark (NHL) and architectural gem in the region – the 140-yr. old HH Richardson Complex in Buffalo – is being revived and has recently been awarded a Historic Preservation Certificate through the federal Dept. of the Interior (making it eligible for up to $10M in federal historic tax credits). Experts say there's no reason why Chautauqua couldn't partner with a commercial entity to create a tax credit-qualified fiscal structure for an Amp revival project that similarly upholds NHL-worthy standards. Revitalizing an American treasure like the Amp warrants no less than a planning and design-vetting process that brings acute historic sensitivity to renewal goals and both exemplifies and yields best practice on all counts. Please consider other paths toward this end before extensively demolishing the Amp!
D
Daniel Mackay
11 years ago
As a preservation professional based in eastern NY, I am dismayed to see Chautaqua Institution undertake a fundamentally flawed approach to such an integral structure on its National Historic Landmark grounds.
R
Robin Lapidus
11 years ago
This does not sound like the Chautauqua Way that I grew up with. I'm not at all opposed to change but if there were any authentic place that needed to stay authentic the Ampitheater would be that place.
T
Thomas Helfrich
11 years ago
It looks like a travesty, based on "misstatements"/lies to potential donors and others. It is past due for the controlling Board to get control and do it right with proper defference to the building's and institution's wonderful history.
F
Falconer Jones
11 years ago
Featured
30,000,000 could be better spent at Chautauqua in many ways in addition to saving the center piece of many great years of great events and the reason Chautauqua was founded in the first place bigger is not always better you are losing the Chautauqua Idea
Please save this magnificent piece of history. To demolish would be a sacrilege!
Preserving history is essential and buildings are very important in this effort.
I love chautauqa
I have always wanted to go to Chautauqua. But after reading in today's paper about the plan to destroy its most historic structure, I now doubt whether I will ever go. If this happens, Chautauqua will certainly move way down on my list of places to visit!
To lose this beautiful and historic building would be a tragedy. We are the stewards of historic items like the amphitheatre, and it is our responsibility to preserve them for future generations. If a modern building is needed, by all mean build it, but don't sacrifice the past for the future.
Keep the amp! Don't destroy the memories and glue that makes us all return!
The amp is the heart of Chautauqua! Where are they thinking? Leave thus grand old dame alone and think of other ways of attracting people to thus wonderful place!
The amp experience is part of the Chautauqua "brand" and its values. But that brand encompasses far more than just the speaker or performance - it is about the viewer participating in a historical legacy that connects him/her with others in the present. Sitting in those uncomfortable seats that others have sat in for generations before is what makes it so special. Renovations, roof and backstage - yes! Tear down and reconstruct - absolutely not
Simply look to the legacy of European history!
There are few venues, or places for that matter, that have the intimacy and welcoming comfort that the historic Amphitheater provides to anyone who takes a seat in its beautiful house. Its link to days past is not stodgy but a tangible picture of how past innovation and creation can hold promise towards our future. While reading the Pittsburgh Post Gazette article about the Chautauqua's Board plans to demolish this still vibrant piece of history while wanting to encourage young people to explore the Institute, I was struck by what an amazingly lost opportunity for the coming generations the demolition would be. Instead, imagine what an engagement of young innovative minds towards integration of technology into a spectacular and still vibrant venue would provide for all of us? A willingness to take on the difficult challenges with creative new ideas? An honoring of our past while we push forward into the future, preserving and updating, instead of destroying? In the PG article, this beloved Amp is described as "clearly inadequate"? Perhaps it is not the building that is inadequate but the vision, or the lack thereof. This is not a matter of needing to change a lightbulb. That is belittling the situation. We already know we can keep the lamps and innovate the bulbs! (BTW - I'm reminded of Edison's home on the Chautauqua grounds...anyone planning on tearing down that one, too?)
The amp is in a historic preservation district. Let's preserve it.
The Chautauqua Institution should sensitively restore the Amphitheater that has been a vital part of their remarkable history.
please do not demolish the amphitheater, it is a very big part of the institution
As a person with five generations of family history at Chautauqua and a storehouse of historic Amp memories (e.g., sitting for hours awaiting the appearance of Robert F. Kennedy, hearing Marian Anderson sing, Van Cliburn play the piano, and other public figures speak, preach, and perform before overflow crowds), I'm taken aback that the Amp renewal plan on the table involves extensive demolition. Meanwhile, another National Historic Landmark (NHL) and architectural gem in the region – the 140-yr. old HH Richardson Complex in Buffalo – is being revived and has recently been awarded a Historic Preservation Certificate through the federal Dept. of the Interior (making it eligible for up to $10M in federal historic tax credits). Experts say there's no reason why Chautauqua couldn't partner with a commercial entity to create a tax credit-qualified fiscal structure for an Amp revival project that similarly upholds NHL-worthy standards. Revitalizing an American treasure like the Amp warrants no less than a planning and design-vetting process that brings acute historic sensitivity to renewal goals and both exemplifies and yields best practice on all counts. Please consider other paths toward this end before extensively demolishing the Amp!
As a preservation professional based in eastern NY, I am dismayed to see Chautaqua Institution undertake a fundamentally flawed approach to such an integral structure on its National Historic Landmark grounds.
This does not sound like the Chautauqua Way that I grew up with. I'm not at all opposed to change but if there were any authentic place that needed to stay authentic the Ampitheater would be that place.
It looks like a travesty, based on "misstatements"/lies to potential donors and others. It is past due for the controlling Board to get control and do it right with proper defference to the building's and institution's wonderful history.
30,000,000 could be better spent at Chautauqua in many ways in addition to saving the center piece of many great years of great events and the reason Chautauqua was founded in the first place bigger is not always better you are losing the Chautauqua Idea
5th generation Chautauquan
Why would you demolish such a beautiful building