Opera House restoration prompts prestigious award

The recent restoration of the façade of the Albemarle Opera House building has brought to the owners a prestigious state award.

Catherine Pickler and Gene Starnes, co-owners of the building, have been chosen to receive the 1991 Gertrude S. Caraway Award of Merit, given annually by Historic Preservation Foundation of NC for outstanding efforts in the field of preservation.

The nomination was made by Vicki Coggins, executive director for the Albemarle Downtown Development Corporation.

According to Bill Murphy of the Historic Preservation Foundation of NC, the opera house was one of only two nominations which won “hands down”. The others required further deliberation. The decision was very competitive, he said, with 33 other candidates nominated.

The façade restoration, which began in fall 1990, and concluded in spring 1991, won local recognition by the Stanly County Historic Properties Commission for their commercial properties award for preservation.

The restoration work was done under the supervision of Mitchel Smith of S&D Construction Co. of Albemarle, assisted by Doug Burns, an architect with AEC of Charlotte. The brick and mortar joints and the black carrara glass had been extensively damaged during the installation of the metal façade and awning in the early 1960’s, according to Smith. Because of this, special care had to be given to the cleaning and filling of the brick and mortar to get a close color match. The replacement carrara glass had to be imported from Italy.

The Opera House Corporation, a newly-formed group actively pursing re-use of the second story opera house, will have its next open house during the Stanly County Sports Festival Sept 28. Funding was recently received from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for a feasibility study of the opera house, with plans to begin in October.

Starnes and Mrs. Pickler will receive the award at a luncheon Sept 28 in Durham. This is hosted annually by Preservation/North Carolina, to honor recipients of the Carraway Awards.

This is the second time this award has been given in Stanly County. The Stanly County Historic Preservation Commission received the award several years ago for its publication, “Badin: a Town at the Narrows”, with all private funds.

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