Perlman Center: Arts center to replace demolished dorm
BY ELIZABETH LAYTON
Last week’s demolition of the women’s dormitory of the Perlman Music Program (PMP) was the first step in a one-year, $3 million project to upgrade the program’s facilities on Shore Road.
The plan is to build a state-of-the-art performance center to seat 50 to 100 people, sound-proof practice rooms and new living quarters for students and faculty by mid-June of 2012, according to Development Director Maureen Nash.
Morgan Stark, president of the board, spearheaded fundraising for the project. “The Arts Center is the most meaningful infrastructure project we’ve undertaken,” he said. “It will enable us to interact with the South and North Forks 12 months a year. We don’t plan to do year-round right away, just one or two concerts in the winter, and expand the summer program from three to six months.”
The building torn down on August 31 dated from the 1920s, when it was called The Sawanhaka Girls’ Dormitory, according to the Shelter Island Historical Society’s Executive Director Pat Mundus and Archivist Phyllis Wallace. “Our mission is preservation, and we’re always sorry to see an old building come down. But we don’t have enough information to say more than that,” said Ms. Mundus.
According to a PMP fundraising brochure that features pictures of antiquated plumbing and cracking window frames, the condition of the old structure was deplorable. According to a 14-year-old student’s letter to the PMP, “There were multiple enormous thunderstorms. There was a horrible window leak in the room I am staying in now. Girls had to use all their towels to stop the water from flowing in on all their bedding and instruments!”
“The building was pretty decrepit,” Ms. Nash said. The list of problems included “water damage to the interior and foundation, plumbing fixtures dating from the 1940s, mold causing students to complain of allergies, lack of sound-proof walls, and no heat.”
Building Inspector William Banks granted a permit for the demolition and rebuilding project. “The old building could have been salvaged,” he said, “but to bring it up to code would have cost more than to rebuild. It was a death trap. It needed everything. To try to fix it would be putting rouge on a corpse.”
Town Councilwoman Chris Lewis said demolition of the old building did not come before the Town Board for review because the project did not require its permission. “I think you are allowed to put up a similar structure at the same spot where a previous one existed,” she said. “So far as historical significance, there was none. It was a hotel. With our zoning law, once you change the use, you can’t go back again. So they just needed permits.”
For the PMP, the building will consolidate and centralize many program activities. There will be room for the entire 40-person PMP String Orchestra and Chorus, informal performances, and practice concerts. Practice rooms for the cellists and faculty will be in the new building, rather than in an outlying structure. There will be living quarters not only for the students, but also for staff. The performance center will double as a rehearsal hall, and there will also be a smaller rehearsal hall on the ground floor.
The plans drawn by architect Eric Woodward show he took into consideration the architecture of the other buildings on the property and in the area. “The new building is the same style, look, and feel as the older one,” Ms. Nash said.
“We followed the rules,” Mr. tark said. “We hired Woodward of Southampton, and builder Dick Strine, who did all the work on previous construction. We let the town know what we’re doing. As far as groundwater and sewer, we overdid it to put in septic systems, so that we don’t have to go back each time and reapply.”
Ms. Nash has been working for five years on the endowment for this phase of the project. “Two-thirds of the project was funded by the board with $1.1 million from Kristy and James H. Clark,” she said. The new building will be named the Kristy and James H. Clark Arts Center.
The 28-acre property was a waterfront camp for many years. In 1964, it became The Peconic Lodge, according to materials published for donors. It was Toby Perlman’s dream that her husband, world-renowned violinist Itzhak Perlman, teach talented musicians from all over the world. In 2000, funds for the purchase of the property were raised; the major donors were David Geffen, Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder, Kate Capshaw and Steven Spielberg, and Alberto Vilar.
Sidney and Morgan Stark and other philanthropists were instrumental in completing Phase I of the Perlman project, a $1 million plan that included a rebuilt faculty cabin in 2005, a renovated Wellness Center in 2007 and the new Cumming Stires-Stark Practice Facility in 2009. There are 27 buildings on the property.
“My wife Sidney and I think the Perlmans are extraordinary people,” Mr. Stark said. “They teach these children to understand life. With Phase II, we are effectively doubling programming in support of the most talented and uniquely special string players in the world.”
Ms. Stark and Ms. Nash will continue to seek funds to complete the Arts center project. “We haven’t gone out to the Perlman Music Program public or the general public yet,” Ms. Stark said.” His ultimate goal is a 10-year project that would cost $10-12 million. “We’re dreaming,” he said.
