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WILKES-BARRE — Save the minarets and the dome. Demo the stage fly system and the barrel vault. Open the remaining exterior walls. Add additional structure to support the dome.
Fill in the basement to create a covered outdoor space.
Skyline view is preserved. The “on-axis” view between the North Franklin Street and the Millennium Circle portal of the River Common is finally achieved.
No plumbing, heating or air conditioning. Maybe some lighting and electrical service. Entirely handicapped accessible.
That, in a nutshell, is how one local architect sees the future of the deteriorating Irem Temple building on North Franklin Street.
Rick Williams, an independent architect (Richard Williams Architecture), is a former owner of Williams Kinsman Lewis Architecture in downtown Wilkes-Barre. Williams had to leave the business when he became a Luzerne County Council member in 2011 due to a charter restriction that does not allow a person to serve on council and be an owner or employee of a firm that has a contract with the county.
Williams wanted to put his idea out regarding the Irem Temple building, which continues to deteriorate while local officials and interested parties struggle to come up with a viable solution to save the 110-year-old building from demolition.
“I prepared some images of a plan for the Irem that I think may be realistic for our community at this point in time,” Williams said. “It may be of interest as our community begins again the discussion about this treasure.”
Williams feels construction costs would be a fraction of the cost to preserve and restore the building. The Greater Wilkes-Barre Partnership has estimated the cost to restore the building and bring it up to code at $15 million. Williams thinks that’s a low estimate and said it could cost double that amount.
“That $15 million estimate to renovate the Irem Temple is probably an old estimate,” Williams said, adding the estimate was probably done a few years ago. “In recent years, the building has been vandalized and it has deteriorated further than when that study was done.”
Williams said even if a benefactor showed up with tens of millions of dollars to restore the building, it would then cost $400,000 to $500,000 per year to heat, cool and maintain the building.
“That would be a minimal cost just to keep the doors open,” he said.
By creating am open-air structure, Williams said, annual operating costs will be a tiny fraction of costs to maintain and operate an enclosed facility.
“We can be a model of how a community creatively preserves our history, culture and unique historic resources,” Williams said. “We can treasure it much in the same spirit as the Coliseum in Rome is treasured.”
Williams will try to attend a meeting Tony Brooks, president of the Wilkes-Barre Preservation Society, has scheduled for his home at noon on Saturday to discuss the Irem Temple.
Brooks hopes to discuss what needs to be done and to find willing volunteers to accept specific tasks.
“I think my plan shows how a treasured historic resource can be adapted for the environment we live in,” Williams said. “I love the can-do attitude, but there needs to be a level of realism, as well.”
The chamber purchased the building in 2005 for just under $1 million. It has been dormant since the mid 1990s and vacant for the last 10 years. The roof is leaking and there are other structural concerns.
Wico Van Genderen, president/CEO of the Chamber, and Larry Newman, executive director of the Diamond City Partnership, said last week the building needs to be stabilized, a process that could cost $1 million.
