Asbury Hall/The Church
Buffalo, NY
This saved-from-the-wrecking-ball story features dedicated Buffalo-area preservationists and especial private efforts from Righteous Babe Records, Ani DiFranco’s production company. The structure rescued was the 1876 Delaware Avenue Methodist Church which was deteriorating so badly that in 1995 stones falling from the structure closed sidewalks and streets.
During the evolution of this mixed use cultural center, Hallwalls, a 30 year old visual, music and media arts organization, was invited to rent part of the space and independently to develop it as a gallery and cinema. At this writing, Hallwalls is in residence and offering programs. Righteous Babe has moved in, and programming is offered in the performance venue, Asbury Hall, which accommodates 300 in a banquet setting, and 800 in theatre seating, or standing room for up to 1000 guests.
At completion, The Church will house for profit (Righteous Babe offices) and not-for-profit enterprises; restoration funds derive from the City (exterior and structure) and contributions and Righteous Babe—interior fit out. Both faithful preservation techniques and forward thinking energy conserving technologies—geothermal heating—contribute to the appeal and soundness of the building, revived.
From www.thechurchbuffalo.com:
Transforming a 19th century house of worship into a 21st century multi-purpose venue was fraught with complications, as you might imagine. But many times the difficulties lead to innovative solutions; take the state-of-the-art geothermal heating system, for instance, which employs wells 300 feet below the surface of the earth to heat and cool the building with minimal reliance on fossil fuels. It’s one of the first such systems of its kind in the area.
Today, the building houses several separate entities, among them the performance venue Asbury Hall (accommodating 300 in a banquet configuration and up to 1,000 in a concert setting), the headquarters of Righteous Babe Records, the gallery and screening room of Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center, and a small bar/lounge. Many events are presented by Righteous Babe and/or Hallwalls, but the space is also available for rental by outside groups and is flexible enough to be transformed to meet almost any need. It’s a safe bet to say that something—more likely several somethings—are always going on at The Church.