Yesterday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation (the Trust) added the Chautauqua Amphitheater (the Amp) to their list of National Treasures. This is a rarefied list of nationally significant historic buildings, landscapes, monuments, and communities, which are in some way threatened with destruction. The Trust has designated only 47 current National Treasures.
The Amp is the first inclusion from the Buffalo area and is one of only 13 in the North East. The Trust does not add to this list without considerable care and deliberation. From the Trust web site:
Our nation’s historic places reveal the richness of the American story.
These beloved places range from one-room schoolhouses to inspiring monuments, from ancient sites to modern masterpieces—National Treasures that reflect our past while enriching our future. Today, thousands of these irreplaceable buildings, landscapes, and communities are endangered as never before.That’s why the National Trust for Historic Preservation has launched an innovative campaign to save them. With the support of thousands of local preservationists and preservation professionals from coast to coast, the Trust is identifying endangered National Treasures and taking action to save them.
Together, we’re raising needed funds, building coalitions to prevent demolition, fighting in the courts to save sites from deterioration, and making sure that the icons of the past remain with us in the future.
And you can help! The National Trust has been protecting America’s historic buildings, landscapes and neighborhoods for more than 60 years. Working together, we can magnify our proven success in dramatic ways.
Together we can protect America’s heritage. Let’s get to work.
National Treasures
• A growing portfolio of historic places in imminent danger or facing a significant threat.
• Diverse places selected by National Trust experts in communities throughout the United States.
• Places that retain their essential integrity and have made a significant contribution to our nation’s story.
• Places that catalyze support, and where preservation plans can be replicated across America.
The Trust web page now has an entry for the amp with photos and the following text:
Opportunity
Encourage the Chautauqua Institution to spare the historic Amphitheater from demolition and embrace a preservation-based rehabilitation plan.
Overview
The Chautauqua Amphitheater is the heart of a National Historic Landmark District located 70 miles southwest of Buffalo, NY. Internationally recognized as a forum for American culture and history, the Amp has hosted a wide range of leaders, activists, and artists over its 122-year history. FDR delivered his “I Hate War” speech there in August of 1936. William Jennings Bryan, Susan B. Anthony, Thurgood Marshall, and Bobby Kennedy all walked its boards, as did Ella Fitzgerald, Lionel Hampton, Marian Anderson, Susan B. Anthony, Van Cliburn, Amelia Earhart, Booker T. Washington, Bill and Hilary Clinton, and Sandra Day O’Connor, to name a few.
Unfortunately, despite this rich history, the Chautauqua Institution is currently planning to demolish the Amp to make way for a replica with updated amenities. Buildings do, and must, evolve over time to remain relevant. The historic Amp is an authentic and important part of the Institutions’ history of intellectual engagement, entertainment, and debate. The Institution should reconsider the need to replace this unique, storied structure, and instead come up with an alternative plan that respects its key historic features while accommodating necessary improvements.
National Significance
The Chautauqua Institution is a not-for-profit educational center beside Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York State, where approximately 7,500 persons are in residence during the summer season, and over 100,000 people attend public events focused on art, education, religion, recreation, and youth. It was founded in 1875 as a Sunday school assembly. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it helped spark a broader movement in education, culture, and religion in communities across the country.
The “beating heart” of this historic community is the Chautauqua Amphitheater, a 4,000-seat, roofed, open-air structure built in 1893. Ellis G. Hall and Lewis Miller, co-founder of the Chautauqua Institution, designed the Amp. Situated in a natural ravine, the concave curve of its wooden ceiling has excellent acoustics. The sides are open and the support posts, meant to mimic the feel of the trees, are in full view. In 1907, the world’s largest outdoor organ, the Massey Memorial Organ, was installed. Today, the Amp retains its historic significance, despite alterations and several significant upgrades made over the years.
Campaign Goals
Encourage the Chautauqua Institution to develop and embrace a preservation-based rehabilitation plan for the Amphitheater.
Preserve Chautauqua’s status as a National Historic Landmark.
There is more information and links to other organizations working with the Trust to save the Amp at this web page.
Now that the Amp has been added to the list of National Treasures it gains national attention and gets the use of the knowledgable and experienced preservation experts at the Trust and the hundreds of regional preservation organizations.
National Trust President, Stephane Meeks, traveled to Buffalo from Washington DC, to give an address at Kleinhans Music Hall Tuesday morning, announcing the inclusion to the Amp on the National Treasures list. Following are a few of her comments excerpted:
Before TV, before radio – the Chautauqua movement was the way Americans heard new ideas and scientific theories, where they engaged with the important political and cultural issues of the day; where they could come to witness and appreciate first-class arts and entertainment.
In a way, Chautauqua was like NPR, PBS, C-SPAN, and Ted Talks rolled into one – it was the epicenter of arts, culture, and ideas in American life, and, while the format spread all across America, this was its birthplace.
The author Edward Everett Hale once said, “If you have not spent a week at Chautauqua, you do not know your own country.” And the heart of this historic destination was, and remains, the Amphitheater.
The list of speakers and performers who have addressed the Amp reads like a Who’s Who of American history.
Susan B. Anthony and Amelia Earhart; William Jennings Bryan & Booker T. Washington; McKinley, Taft, and Teddy Roosevelt – all spoke here.
Franklin Roosevelt and Alf Landon campaigned at the Amp in 1936. Marian Anderson and Ella Fitzgerald sang the blues on its stage. Bobby Kennedy and Thurgood Marshall crusaded for social justice and equality before the law under its famous roof.
National Treasures is our signature initiative. This designation means that we believe the Amp is of crucial national significance, and that we care deeply about in its future, and will take direct action, with our partners on the ground, to help save it for future generations.
All of our Treasures face a significant threat of demolition or irreparable damage – some due to neglect, others inappropriate development, others still lack of funding or insensitive public policy.
In this case, the threat, as Peter discussed, is the proposed demolition of the Amp to build an ersatz replica in its place.
We understand why the Chautauqua Institution, an organization we have long supported, would want to make upgrades to their facility – this is still a very popular destination – Americans love historic places.
But, we think this demolition is wrong-headed and short-sighted. You cannot just replace the jewel of Chautauqua with a cubic zirconium replica, without fundamentally altering the entire district.
Any plan to demolish or significantly alter the Amp would destroy the heart of Chautauqua, and compromise the historic character that Chautauquans – and visitors from around the world – deeply value.
It would also threaten the National Historic Landmark status of this nationally significant place. And it is overkill, pure and simple. Upgrades can be made to the Amp, as they have in the past, that do not involve such a devastating gutting of this historic property.
Moving forward, I hope the Institution will work closely and openly with local and statewide preservationists who have offered their assistance in reaching such a plan.
To that end, the National Trust will mobilize our sixty-five years of expertise and preservation resources to help protect this site for the future.
We hope the Chautauqua Institution will work with us to keep the historic Amp, the heart and soul of Chautauqua, alive and thriving.
This designation does not save the building. There is still work hard to be done to prevent thoughtless demolition. This building is still very much in danger of being sent to land fill. Once gone it never comes back. You can help save this National Treasure. Contact the Save the Amp group and the National Trust for more information.