​​ANNOUNCING
The All Access Project​​ at the historic Vergennes Opera House

​What is the All Access Project? 

​The All Access Project imagines a City Hall/Opera House that is accessible to all via an elevator tower that will be constructed and affixed to the southwest side of the building, as well as a creative and discreet lift to allow for full access to the stage and greenroom. 

The Vergennes Opera House was officially reopened in 1997 after a multi-year effort to restore the community space and get it “up to code” in time for its 100th anniversary. Since that grand reopening, the Opera House restoration has continued under the direction, energy and enthusiasm of the non-profit all-volunteer team, The Friends of the Vergennes Opera House (FVOH). 

Today the theater space hosts a myriad of events, some produced by FVOH as well as private funtions such as weddings and parties, and important community meetings and forums such as the annual town meeting in March. 

Since the reopening in 1997, the little city of Vergennes has grown and prospered attracting new families, new retail establishments and a wide variety of restaurants. The pride in the community is palpable and improvements in the downtown have continued. The the stores and businesses on the historic Main Street are now accessible via ADA compliant sidewalks, ramps and curbing. Now, in the building’s 125th year, and after 25+ years of successfully hosting performances and public and private gatherings of all kinds, the all-volunteer Friends have set their energies to making the entire building truly accessible to all with the construction of a fully ADA compliant elevator tower and companion ADA stage and greenroom lift for performers. 

​Discussions about the All Access Project at the Vergennes Opera House began years ago when a local supporter asked the all-volunteer group to “please get an elevator” because “we are all getting older and climbing the stairs is getting more difficult.”

Our Core Team: Our core team consists of restoration specialists, Opera House board members, a local development and planning professional, the city manager, and other representatives from the local and state level including the professionals at the Vermont 
Department of Historic Preservation who are committed to helping us throughout each phase.

The “All Access” project falls into three general phases:

Phase 1: All Access Project Elevator Tower

This new elevator tower and related landscaping, will allow for easy access to not only the first floor of city hall, but also to the second floor theater space. The tower will be architecturally interesting, functional and convenient for all to use.  Below are two pictures, one showing the current ADA access ramp as seen from Main Street looking through the alley, and the other looking at the ramp from the back of the Opera House.

The architectural rendering below illustrate the placement of the proposed elevator tower affixed in place onto the Opera House on the side of the building within the alleyway of city hall and St. Paul's Episcopal Church. 

Phase 2: All Access Project Stage and Greenroom

​The concept drawing below shows the creative solution to making both the stage and the greenroom 100% accessible. Renovations include a lift that moves seamlessly between the auditorium level, stage level and greenroom level. It also calls for creating/retrofitting two restrooms, both of which will be ADA compliant. 

Access to the lift is respectfully inside a hallway that is located behind a door, stage right. 

Phase 3: All Access Project - Pocket Park
The landscape architectural rendering of the pocket park shows the reimagined alleyway between City Hall and St. Paul’s church.

Here we have taken an uninviting paved area and turned it into a public pocket park for all to enjoy. This pocket park will serve as an open, bright and safe entrance to the elevator tower, as well as a comfortable gathering space and waiting area for the Tri-County Transit bus service. 

Features include attractive lighting features, porous pavers with drainage, park benches and landscaping that is appropriate for this space considering its proximity to two building with significant rain and snow runoff. 

The pocket park also creates a convenient drop off area for Opera House patrons who can then easily move through the alley toward the elevator tower. From there they enter into a vestibule where they can choose the door straight ahead to access city hall services, or turn right to access the elevator to the second floor opera house level. 

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We were recently award a $30K planning grant from the Vermont Community Development Program. These funds will go toward the cost of hiring an architect firm that will be able to provide the organization with "shovel ready" drawings from which we can begin to build and RFP for builders. We are in the process (summer 2022) of collecting RFP responses from architect firms for this first portion of our project. 

We are very much looking forward to building a generous and forward-thinking group of donors to help us through the various phases of this fantastic project. 

Members of our core team are ready and willing to meet with you to see how you can get involved and be a part of making the opera house accessible to everyone. 

Key contacts for the All Access Project are: Susan Schaefer, Treasurer (973.727.9482, sus.schaefer@me.com) and project leader and Gerianne Smart, President and project co-leader (802.777.7610, getsmartvt@gmail.com).

We look forward to sharing our plans and our progress as we continue to move forward.