Penn Theater heads for final curtain
It looks like the curtain is coming down on any effort to renovate the historic Penn Theater. Butler City Council voted Thursday night to demolish the structure on Main Street rather than try to repair it.
The building has been owned by the Butler Redevelopment Authority since 2009. During that time, the building’s condition deteriorated to the point where it would be cost-prohibitive to repair it, according to Mayor Bob Dandoy.
Dandoy said a recent inspection turned up more than 40 different code violations that were reported to the redevelopment authority.
“The cost to repair it would be significant. I don’t believe the redevelopment authority has that kind of resources to make repairs,” Dandoy said.
And, he added, the city doesn’t have the money to demolish the building at present.
“It was a case of the cart and the horse,” he said of Thursday’s council decision. “Do we condemn it and look for the money, or do you get the money and then condemn it?”
Dandoy said the condition of the building made it a danger to the public thus making the condemnation a priority.
He said the redevelopment authority had made no attempt in the past to address any of the issues surrounding the building.
The redevelopment authority did not return phone calls Friday.
And the building is an eyesore, Dandoy added. “It’s not the image we want downtown.”
Kenny Bonus, of the Penn Theater Performance Company, which formed in 2016 to bring arts to the Butler community, said he understood the cost to make repairs to the building were prohibitive.
The group had wanted to bring music and comedy shows to the Penn Theater, but moved to other venues when the theater proved unsuitable.
“It’s disappointing, the heart sinks a little bit, but I hope the space is used for a similar endeavor and not just become an empty lot,” Bonus said.
He added any money his group had collected could be turned over to the newly formed downtown arts district.
Local historian Bill May said the theater was designed by famous theater architect James E. Casale and opened in 1938 with “Girl of the Golden West” starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy as the first movie shown.
The theater was owned by Elias Ritts, president of the Butler County National Bank, and leased to the Altoona-based Paramount Theaters’ Service Corps.
“At some point,” May said. “The art deco walls and artwork were starting to decay. Rather than restore them, they covered them in draping material covering the art deco elements.”
In May 2001, the Penn Theater, which by then had been divided into a downstairs Penn I and an upstairs Penn II theater closed. The final movies shown were “Driven” in the downstairs Penn I and “Joe Dirt” in Penn II.
May said Don Rasely, a force in the local arts community and a church music director, bought the Penn.
He was chairman of the Penn Theater Community Trust, a group that planned to renovate the theater and turn it into a performing arts center.
“Sadly for everyone involved, he was arrested (in 2007) and imprisoned for having inappropriate relations with a 15-year-old boy,” May said.
“It’s a kind of sad story. I have no doubt had he not had a dark side he would have gotten that theater up and running as a self-sustaining theater of the performing arts,” said May.
Instead, before Rasely’s imprisonment, May said a community-minded and well-intentioned group of people started the Penn on its decline by ripping out rows of seats, its curtains and screen and the wall drapery exposing the decaying art deco decorations.
“Their enthusiasm destroyed a working theater. It had looked nice, if plain. Instead of restoring a piece at a time, they turned it into an eyesore. It looked rundown,” said May.
In 2009, the Butler Redevelopment Authority borrowed $290,000 from the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation to buy the building, a loan which it has not yet paid off.
