John Shearer: Engineers Club Gets Sneak Peek At Tivoli’s Future And Past

The Tivoli Theatre has hosted countless shows and concerts and, during the first 40 years of its life, first-run movies. But Monday the Chattanooga Engineers Club was treated to a program at the theater about the Tivoli itself.

At its regular noontime meeting, about 30-plus members of the club gathered on the front rows of the theater to hear an update on the upcoming construction plans and work that will be done. They also got to learn plenty little-known facts about the theater’s past, which, based on their reaction, might have been even more interesting.

That included tales about old fans still there or removed, as well as pictures of the rarely seen organ pipes.

The media and other interested people were also invited, and I gathered on a back row and was totally engrossed in the program like an enthralled teenager watching a movie there in the 1940s. That is, even though I have written stories about the Tivoli and its history before. Or maybe it was because of that.

After a welcome by club president George Aslinger and some discussions by Tivoli Foundation officials about a Camp Broadway for youngsters this summer and a push to begin a public fund-raising campaign around this fall when construction will begin, Rick Botto began his program.

He is the principal of Compass Commissioning & Design and is the honorary engineer for the Tivoli project. Mills and Schnoering of New Jersey is the architectural firm, while T.U. Parks is the general contractor for the privately and publicly funded project that as of last summer had been estimated at over $52 million.

Mr. Botto said the old 1889 Fowler’s furniture/Tivoli Centre building that the Tivoli Foundation has bought will be the primary part of the renovation. Its first floor will feature a new entrance adjacent to the Tivoli on Broad Street, a bar on the south front, a leased restaurant space on the north front end by Seventh Street, and additional lobby space for the Tivoli in the back.

The second floor will include public classroom or meeting spaces, while the Bobby Stone Cinema theater will take up parts of the third and fourth floors. Long-term plans in another phase also call for an outdoor bar on the roof to be operated by the restaurant, officials said.

“This is a very much improved layout,” said Mr. Botto in emphasizing how the redone Fowler’s building will help in the accommodation as well as the flow of patrons into and out of the Tivoli during a show.

An artist’s rendering also showed a vertical Tivoli marquee, similar to the current one, hanging at the corner of the old Fowler’s building at Seventh and Broad streets.

Mr. Botto also pointed out that the Fowler’s building’s tall and unique interior cast iron columns of more than 20 feet will be retained.

Regarding what will be done to the Tivoli, which was originally designed by the noted Chicago theater firm of Rapp and Rapp, Mr. Botto said, “We are not drastically improving this place, just changing it back to what it was.”

He said some electrical and sprinkler system upgrades will be done, and an issue with occasional water problems in the basement due to a nearby city sewer line will be fixed using a lift station to pump water out. Also, more restrooms will be installed in places like the upper floor in connection with the old Fowler’s/Tivoli Centre building.

He said very little asbestos has been found so far.

Much of the program dealt with the theater’s past, and Mr. Botto pointed out how big the proscenium arch around the front of the stage was compared to most other theaters.

“If you are on the stage looking out, it is quite a view,” he said.

Theater technical director Sam Fort also chimed in information while seated on a front row, such as mentioning a giant movie screen installed in 2018.

Mr. Botto also pointed out the Wurlitzer organ sitting a few feet away and said that it does even more than a typical church organ. It also has buttons to play such silent movie-era sounds as horns honking and cymbals clinking. “This thing can make sounds that are fascinating,” he said.

He also showed some photos he had taken of a tour in the last week of the area above the stage where the organ’s wooden and metal pipes are located. He said they used to be operated by air but are now prompted electronically.

He also showed some recent photos of some old fans or fan frames used in the theater and said a couple of fans had to be removed in recent years when, according to Mr. Fort, the crew of “The Book of Mormon” needed extra space for stage rigging. This was done in part to take away the extra weight.

Since the audience for the Monday program was comprised of engineers, Mr. Botto also went into details about the various air systems used in the theater over the years. He showed a photo of one fan that had almost boomerang-angled blades, and it was made by the Typhoon Fan Co. to be quieter during a movie in the days before air conditioning arrived with a Carrier system installed in 1926, five years after the theater opened. The Carrier system operated by using water, he said.

He also showed a photo of an old General Electric fan motor still there and said coal had also been used in the early days to help heat the building.

Mr. Botto said the contractors are going through getting the proper permits right now, and hopefully construction can begin in the coming weeks. But he believes it will be a great facility when completed with both buildings becoming one.

“This place is going to live on, hopefully for a while,” he said.

After the program formally ended, about 10 attendees went down to the basement and saw some of the old heating and cooling equipment, some of which is no longer being used and much of which will be removed in the planned remodeling and restoration.

Attendees also had chances to ride the orchestra pit lift where the Wurlitzer was sitting and enjoy Mr. Fort showing them a little how the sounds are made on the organ.

Like an old double feature show, the hour-plus program was a look into the theater’s planned future – and storied past.

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jcshearer2@comcast.net