Town Hall Auditorium Meeting Room: What Would It Be Used For?
By Alex Herlihy, Rye Historical Society, Rye Heritage Commission
Revised December 2013
Over 150 years ago, the Town of Rye had a lively town center, a common meeting place, an epicenter for interaction. With the advent of the automobile, followed by decades of rapid development, the town center lost its hold. Despite new technologies that allow people to live in a bubble, our history implores us to become more socially connected. With this effort, we have a chance to bring some of that back to Rye. The upstairs of our Town Hall,  embraces a historic space that is 174 years old.  It is one of the finest examples of a community  gathering place in New England, however it has been over-run by office space. In the Rye of old, this space was used for town government, social events and entertainment, today, we have an opportunity to restore that purpose for the Rye of tomorrow.
If you have been attending the slew of town associated meetings, you would have noticed we struggle for an adequate meeting space, juggling between the uncomfortable court room,  the highly sought after Rye Library meeting room and the less than optimal  RJH cafeteria where poor acoustics compromise effective meetings.
Potential Uses for the Town Hall Auditorium include:
1. First and foremost the auditorium would be for town government use:
Anticipated large attendance at: Board of Selectmen, Planning Board, Zoning Board of Adjustment, meetings, etc. (estimated seating in the auditorium – 230). It could also be used for other large needs meeting space by town government groups. Flexible seating and tables as well as audio visual equipment would be available to seat a variety of audience sizes. , The stage area could easily be partitioned off for special meetings which could occur while the auditorium is in use for other purposes. (SMP architects idea Nov. 2013)
2. Town Elections could he held here to relieve the strain and parking congestion at the Elementary School. This was where Rye use to vote, before offices expansion prevented that. . Access for elections and other events would be from the upper parking lot. (Handicapped accessible)
3. Other events sponsored by town government such as conferences, presentations, etc.
4. Non-governmental use of the hall:
A. Recreation – some programs could be run in the auditorium (see document below from Rye Recreation)
B. Senior citizens activities
C. Overflow programs sponsored by the Rye Public Library and the Friends of the Library because capacity of Library meeting room is only 55 (and is often exceeded)
D. Rye Heritage Commission and Rye Historical Society events, etc.
E. Special events sponsored by the town
F. Town Cultural presentations, performances (i.e. theater, speakers, music, recitals, film, dances, fund raisers, parties, receptions, fairs, art exhibits, etc.). There are many conflicts with utilizing the RJH gym and parking challenges.
G. Use by the schools – Town Hall Auditorium would be a desired location because of its   historic nature and pleasing aesthetics. Parking capacity, when using church and town lot, is greater than either school. (Permission to use church lot on far side of church would need to be secured for events.)
H. Use by other town non- government groups such as the Lions, etc.
I. Rental to outside groups to stage events: performances, conferences, etc. (A policy would have to be adopted for this use. Rental fees could help defray annual costs associated with the town hall. It remains to be seen if significant rental income could be generated by the restored auditorium, but its historic character gives it much more appeal than other spaces in town and it would have definite appeal to outside groups. It would be up to the town government and citizen groups to promote rental if the town agrees to such use.
A historic perspective:
My first memory of visiting the Rye Town Hall auditorium was in 1949 at a church fair when I was 4 years old. The sights, sounds and smells of that visit are still a strong memory. My next memory is from 1953 when I saw my father perform in a Rye Players performance. He starred as Elwood P., Dowd, in the Pulitzer Prize winning Broadway play of 1949, “Harvey.†I will never forget it. I also performed on the stage myself in an 8th grade variety show in 1959 and I remember attending some lively town meetings there in the early 1960’s. Community seasonal gatherings, cultural performances and town political meetings are but a few of the many uses of this historic space from 1874 to 1985 and its possibilities for the future are endless.
In the Town Museum there is a binder of playbills of many of the performances at Town Hall during the turn of the 20th century. Town reports chronicle a wide variety of uses by every imaginable group in town and some outside groups as well. There were even some wild and crazy semi pro basketball teams which played there in the 1920’s. In 1978 the last theatrical performance was “Abelard and Heloise†and in 1985 there was a wedding reception and dance and a two day Rye Historical Society event which celebrated the town’s Bi-centennial with a hall full of exhibits. The next year the Selectmen began moving temporary offices into the hall, but also gave the historical society some exhibit space. All the offices you see in the hall today are temporary, including the stage.
The restoration of this space is not an expensive proposition and its use by the town in the  future will be something to celebrate. If we do not act now we will lose it forever.
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From Lee Arthur – Rye Recreation Director
Current programs held by the Town that may be able to utilize the space would include Babysitter Course, CPR Course, First Aid Course, Pre-school Classes, Lego Robotics, Yoga and some Fitness Classes.
Community meetings, fairs, and even a winter farmers market was discussed. There are numerous Rye based volunteer organizations that could utilize the space to meet (Rye Art Study Club, Rye Garden Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Youth Sport Organizations, and Rye Lions etc.).
A grange has been referred to as a building nearby a farm and a farmer’s organization founded in 1867 for social and cultural purposes. If we look at the town hall auditorium from that perspective, it would lend itself nicely to a small performing arts venue for live theatre, music, dance and other performances (plays, dance recitals, movie screening, bands, poetry readings, talks). A permanent Art Gallery could occupy a small area in the hall. Other program related classes could include arts education, painting and writing classes, intro to photography, knitting, arts and craft classes, dance lessons, and music lessons.
In order to consider the actual functional use of the hall it is very important to consider the following programing considerations:
- Parking
- Accessibility (elevator)
- secure area maximize public use
- Temperature control (heating and cooling)
- Noise control
- Kitchen facilities
- Washroom and changing rooms
- Storage
- Time of day programs
- Flooring
- Exterior play areas
- Fountains/water
- Projection/lecture facilities
- Sound and lighting equipment
- Stage theatrical space
- Proximity (supervision of space)
- Division of space (size)
Most importantly it is the vision of a vibrant, active hall that will be accessible for public use that excites us all.
