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| Home | Modify info | Search | Administrative Add URL (sw) | What's Cool | Firehouse Art Gallery The Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts (FCVA) provides visitors with a fully-integrated arts experience through contemporary exhibitions and educational programming informed by the work in the Firehouse Gallery. The FCVA includes a community darkroom and photography studio; artist-in-residence studio; multimedia conference facility for lectures, film series, and panel discussions; and Resource Room and Library with public meeting space and Internet access. Burlington City Arts (BCA) opened all five floors of the building in 2004 after an extensive historic renovation, and has yet to complete the $3.5 million capital campaign. Click Here to Explore the Firehouse The Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts is programmed and managed by Burlington City Arts. After running far behind schedule on restoration of the old Ethan Allen Firehouse on Church Street, Burlington City Arts is one step closer to turning the building into the Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts. Senator Patrick Leahy, who was at Wednesday's announcement via videotape, helped secure five-hundred thousand dollars in federal funds, under the "Save America's Treasures" grant program. Burlington City Arts still needs to raise about four-hundred thousand dollars. They will use the money to complete construction and outfit the building with equipment. Burlington City Arts hopes to open the center later this year for exhibits, lectures, and educational programs. ... Construction on the building was slowed down over the years when restorers found major structural problems with the former firehouse. Senator Leahy actually used to work in the firehouse. He had his office there when he was State's Attorney and during his first two terms in the Senate. Click here to read more. (Link number 275 was added on 7-May-2003 and has had 88 hits. The source of this resource was found at http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=1268068&nav=4QcRFh0G . ) Burlington's brand new arts center is located in a very old building, which created a big problem. But those who struggled to open the center had good reason to celebrate this weekend. After a year of delay the Center for the Visual Arts has opened at the historic firehouse next to City Hall. ... The arts are big business, and Burlington has a large arts community. First, the non-profit City Arts must raise a lot of cash. The firehouse project was dealt a blow when serious structural damage was discovered in the building that dates from 1889, adding a million dollars to the cost. That makes this a nearly $3.5 million project. City Arts is still $800,000 short of its goal to finish the renovations on the five-story building by next summer. The half-finished center contains plenty of space for art shows and lectures. In a city full of historic buildings, this one represents a work of art. Click here to read more. (Link number 265 was added on 15-Dec-2002 and has had 74 hits. The source of this resource was found at http://www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=1049703 . ) The Firehouse Center celebrates "The Bus Barns Project through February 18th of 2001. The Bus Barns Project was a site-specific performance event that took place in June, 2000 at the Vermont Transit bus repair barns on North Winooski Avenue in Burlington. Directed by Hannah Dennison, the performances honored the historic public transportation site and opened the door for its transformation into affordable rental housing and start up business. Click here to read more. (Link number 13 was added on 2-Feb-2001 and has had 31 hits. The source of this resource was found at http://burlingtonvt.org/arts-and-humanities/miscellaneous/art-beat-news.html . ) A home for the arts When the Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts opens its doors today in Burlington, it will open a world of possibilities to artists and artlovers. The transformed building on Church Street, which is an art piece in itself, will become home to artists, instructors and students. This is hands-on art, with classrooms, a community darkroom and eventually, a library, a lecture hall and space for an artist-in-residence to mentor budding sculptors, painters and photographers. Not only is the five-story arts complex a valuable addition to the city's preserved historic properties, it will serve an important role in enhancing the arts in the community. Today's grand opening of the project's Phase I -- starting at 4 p.m. with a procession down Church Street -- marks the completion of the foundation and gallery levels. Funding has come from private donors and federal, city and state grants. This is only Phase I. Burlington City Arts, the nonprofit group responsible for the project, still must raise $800,000 to finish the building by summer. With preservation come costs -- in this case, about $1 million. The project price tag jumped to $3.4 million from $2.4 million after a number of significant structural problems were discovered four months into the construction in 2001. To Burlington's benefit, the project continued. Architect John Anderson stayed true to the original work by A.B. Fisher, who completed the structure in 1889 for the Ethan Allen Fire Engine Co. No. 4. The wavy glass in the windows and charming bell tower evoke an earlier era. The airy ground floor gallery once housed the fire company's two-wheeled hose cart and a four-wheeled steam pumper. After its years as a fire station, the building was used by the Burlington Police Department for 40 years until 1967 when it moved to new headquarters on South Winooski Avenue. At the time, Francis Cain, then mayor of Burlington, called the building a blight and a hazard and wanted it demolished, according to the "Historic Guide to Burlington Neighborhoods." Cain met fierce opposition, and the old fire station became a cause locally and nationally with The New York Times architectural editor taking an interest. A federal matching grant saved the building. In 1974, the University of Vermont rented the first floor for a store-front downtown education center. With the Burlington City Arts restoration, the entire building will be put to use. It has been an expensive project, but a worthwhile one. The Firehouse Center for the Visual Arts preserves a part of Vermont's rich history while providing a home for the arts.

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