A restaurant & exhibition space in the former Morvilius Opera House

Abstract

The former Morvilius Opera House is on the second storey of what is now the Brockman Appliance Store in Fort Recovery, Ohio. The second storey of the building where the performances occurred Ted between 1883 and 1936 is now being used as storage for the Brockman Appliance Store below. My thesis proposes to adaptively reuse this historic building as a restaurant and exhibition space. An adjacent lot is used for the modernized mechanical systems and food preparation.The intent was to keep the project realistic enough that it could feasibly occur and to improve life in the village by reusing a historical building for a more suitable use than its current. The design offers a pleasant dining experience in an interesting and comfortable surrounding of small local exhibits. The intent is not to turn this building into a museum-like structure that cannot financially support itself. The villagers are quite excited about the project and would like to see it manifest itself. The project necessitates relocating the current tenant to an equivalent downtown location. Time was spent dealing with preservation and restoration issues especially in the design of the two additions. Additional time was dedicated to researching successful restaurant design including functional kitchen design and pleasant dining critieria. The dining area will be available to rent for private parties, reunions, corporate dinner meetings, etc. A small exhibition space/lobby will be designed for the use of the community and patrons of the restaurant. Additionally, the wood floor of the former opera house can be used during the week for exhibits and on special occasions for entertainment presented on the stage such as plays, concerts, vaudeville acts, quartets, etc.The restaurant/exhibition space will fit nicely into the rural community. The opera house is situated in the recently restored downtown at the most prominent corner of the whole village. The 1883 building is surrounded by other historic two-storey brick structures with very little infill in the downtown district.The spaces required for the facility include a lobby/exhibition space, 2 dining rooms, 2 banquet rooms, restored balcony, dance/exhibition floor, bar, restored ticket booth, 2 coat checks, restored stage, 3 pairs of restrooms, 2 kitchens, food service support, vertical circulation, storage, general office, employee lounge, delivery/receiving area, mechanical room, and electrical closet. The total square footage of the facility is approximately 17,600SF for the interior spaces.All the restaurant dining spaces are directly related to the kitchen and its supporting facilities such as storage, freezer/cooler, etc. The lobby serves as a small exhibition space that guests may enjoy before or after dining. This space provides a transition from the outdoors to the dining rooms. The very high ceilings of the first and second floors provide an opportunity for wall exhibits in the dining areas as well as floor exhibits on the auditorium floor. The bar itself is located in the existing opera house directly related to the dance floor and ticket booth. The dance floor is adjacent to the stage that will be restored in order to accomomdate live performances.