Derby, CT – Mayor Staffieri recently announced that MOS architectural firm out of New Haven and Boston has been selected to begin work on the interior design of the Sterling Opera House. The City of Derby secured federal and private grant funding for the opera house interior renovations.
“I have always felt that there would be tremendous regional benefit to restoring a treasure like the Sterling Opera House. The Sterling will bring new life to Derby’s downtown and new life to the surrounding communities once fully restored. This is the next step to acquiring funding for the construction of the interior. I am honored that this well known team will be working with us to create a vision for the Sterling,” said Mayor Staffieri.
MOS will have six to nine months to complete the interior design. They will be working with Theater Projects, Consultants, who have created performance spaces around the world in over 1200 projects including the Kodack Theater in Hollywood CA and the Wyly Theater, At&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas TX.
The interior design will include phase 1 – evaluation, programming, design; phase 2 – schematic design and phase 3 – design development.
In 2011 Final Design of the Interior of the Opera House was completed. A cost estimate of between $3-4million was established for the interior renovations.
The final design includes the following; the Sterling’s three-tiered auditorium – stage, orchestra pit, seating area and two balconies – will be restored and brought up to current code compliance. The seating arrangement (originally configured to accommodate an audience of 1,250) will be redesigned to provide added comfort to approximately 400 patrons. New theatrical lighting, stage and projection equipment and curtains will be installed. Iron works on the balconies and theater seats will be refurbished and floors will be refinished. Dressing rooms below the stage will be upgraded and an elevator will be installed. Access for handicapped will be incorporated.
Derby’s Sterling Opera House was the first structure in Connecticut to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1889 and operated as a theater until 1945. Two lower levels served as City Hall and the Police Station until 1965.
The Opera House is unusual for its Italian Victorian architectural treatment in a public building. The design balances symmetrical and asymmetrical effects: the asymmetrical tower is balanced by the window treatment. The house was built in 1889 to seat 1250, and possesses an excellent stage.
Designer H.E. Ficken, one of the creators of Carnegie Hall, combined several architectural styles in the Sterling. The exterior and roof-top and the interior walls and doorways are Italianate Victorian and display the final evolution of the Italian Baroque opera house. The interior seating plan was influenced by German composer Richard Wager’s conception of a triangle seating arrangement, with all seats enjoying an unobstructed view of the stage. No box seats were used, but two “piano boxes” were located on either side of the stage to accommodate two Sterling Pianos.
A proscenium arch frames the 60-by-34-foot stage. Below are 10 dressing rooms. The auditorium boasts an orchestra pit, two gracefully sweeping balconies and fine examples of bottle glass, keystone arches and wrought iron work. Acoustically, the Sterling has no equal. Even a whisper can be heard clearly from all areas of the auditorium.
The City of Derby has worked with State, Federal, private and local citizens to restore the exterior of the Sterling Opera Housewhich included brick re-pointing, new doors and windows, guana removal, new roof, newly restored cupola’s and new entrances. The City has also securee funding for the interior design.
It is envisioned that the complete restoration of the Sterling Opera House will provide Derby and the surrounding Lower Valley communities of Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton with a cultural center accommodating community groups, festivals, theater groups, etc.
“I have always felt that there would be tremendous regional benefit to restoring a treasure like the Sterling Opera House. The Sterling will bring new life to Derby’s downtown and new life to the surrounding communities once fully restored. This is the next step to acquiring funding for the construction of the interior. I am honored that this well known team will be working with us to create a vision for the Sterling,” said Mayor Staffieri.
MOS will have six to nine months to complete the interior design. They will be working with Theater Projects, Consultants, who have created performance spaces around the world in over 1200 projects including the Kodack Theater in Hollywood CA and the Wyly Theater, At&T Performing Arts Center in Dallas TX.
The interior design will include phase 1 – evaluation, programming, design; phase 2 – schematic design and phase 3 – design development.
In 2011 Final Design of the Interior of the Opera House was completed. A cost estimate of between $3-4million was established for the interior renovations.
The final design includes the following; the Sterling’s three-tiered auditorium – stage, orchestra pit, seating area and two balconies – will be restored and brought up to current code compliance. The seating arrangement (originally configured to accommodate an audience of 1,250) will be redesigned to provide added comfort to approximately 400 patrons. New theatrical lighting, stage and projection equipment and curtains will be installed. Iron works on the balconies and theater seats will be refurbished and floors will be refinished. Dressing rooms below the stage will be upgraded and an elevator will be installed. Access for handicapped will be incorporated.
Derby’s Sterling Opera House was the first structure in Connecticut to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built in 1889 and operated as a theater until 1945. Two lower levels served as City Hall and the Police Station until 1965.
The Opera House is unusual for its Italian Victorian architectural treatment in a public building. The design balances symmetrical and asymmetrical effects: the asymmetrical tower is balanced by the window treatment. The house was built in 1889 to seat 1250, and possesses an excellent stage.
Designer H.E. Ficken, one of the creators of Carnegie Hall, combined several architectural styles in the Sterling. The exterior and roof-top and the interior walls and doorways are Italianate Victorian and display the final evolution of the Italian Baroque opera house. The interior seating plan was influenced by German composer Richard Wager’s conception of a triangle seating arrangement, with all seats enjoying an unobstructed view of the stage. No box seats were used, but two “piano boxes” were located on either side of the stage to accommodate two Sterling Pianos.
A proscenium arch frames the 60-by-34-foot stage. Below are 10 dressing rooms. The auditorium boasts an orchestra pit, two gracefully sweeping balconies and fine examples of bottle glass, keystone arches and wrought iron work. Acoustically, the Sterling has no equal. Even a whisper can be heard clearly from all areas of the auditorium.
The City of Derby has worked with State, Federal, private and local citizens to restore the exterior of the Sterling Opera Housewhich included brick re-pointing, new doors and windows, guana removal, new roof, newly restored cupola’s and new entrances. The City has also securee funding for the interior design.
It is envisioned that the complete restoration of the Sterling Opera House will provide Derby and the surrounding Lower Valley communities of Ansonia, Beacon Falls, Oxford, Seymour and Shelton with a cultural center accommodating community groups, festivals, theater groups, etc.