Pasquotank Arts Council Moving to Historic Building
culture, e.s. chesson & sons, elizabeth city, history, pasquotank arts council,
Home is where the art is for the Pasquotank Arts Council‚ which has a new‚ historic address with a familiar ring to Elizabeth City residents.
The council’s upcoming move to an 1897 brick building on Main Street‚ most recently home of E.S. Chesson & Sons department store‚ will preserve a piece of the city’s past and also provide a central location for PAC programs‚ which now occupy various locations around the city.
“I can’t wait until we ‘live in the same house‚’” says Lisa Winslow‚ executive director of the arts council. “It’s a great building. It’s going to be beautiful. The community is excited about what it means to Elizabeth City.”
The council has been using 5‚000 square feet of space in another building on Main Street that accommodates its offices as well as a 2‚500-square-foot gallery featuring works of more than 150 artists and craftsmen. Other council programs are held throughout the city‚ Winslow says. In addition to the gallery‚ PAC offers arts and crafts workshops‚ music‚ creative writing‚ drama and visual arts classes for children from first grade through high school.
The move to the 17‚000-square-foot Chesson’s building will meet the group’s goal to have all of its ventures under one roof.
In fact‚ “Arts Together” is the theme for the capital campaign‚ which aims to raise $2.8 million by August 2005 to renovate the building. And it has been a community-wide effort to save the three-story structure and give it a new lease on life‚ Winslow says.
Chesson’s moved out of the deteriorating structure and donated it to Preservation North Carolina‚ Winslow says. Ten individual donations of $10‚000 covered the cost of stabilizing it‚ then the community raised $120‚000 in six weeks’ time to purchase the building‚ which evokes strong feelings in many area residents.
“People are very sentimental about this building‚” Winslow says. “They have fond memories of shopping there – many people had their first job at Chesson’s.”
The landmark housed much more than the first-floor department store‚ however. On the upper floors were offices and a turn-of-the-century opera house. The department store‚ purchased by the Chesson family in the early 1900s‚ featured a rare high-speed cord-and-wheel cash carrier‚ designed to literally transport cash back to an office. That feature will be preserved in the new council headquarters‚ along with many of the building’s other historic features.
Following the capital campaign‚ renovations are expected to get underway in 2006‚ Winslow says. The council plans to expand its programming once construction is complete.
“The whole Albemarle area is hungry for a location for cultural offerings‚” Winslow s ays. “The PAC is for everyone‚ and the new building will bring people downtown. It’s going to be a wonderful facility.”
Story by Anne Gillem
Photo by Wes Aldridge
