Brandon_Auditorium_and_Fire_Hall

Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall

Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall

United States historic place

The Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall, on Holmes Ave. in Brandon, Minnesota, is a historic fire station and other facility. It has also been known as the Brandon Auditorium and City Hall. It was built as a Works Progress Administration project during 1935–36. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.[1]

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It is a unique municipal hall. It has been described as Minnesota's most creative WPA construction project and a symbol of its dual success in generating jobs and public buildings.[2]

It was designed by Minneapolis architect F. Boes Pfeifer to serve as a combination gymnasium/auditorium, fire hall, and village office. It had a 27 feet (8.2 m) stage, and a balcony with a movie projection booth. The Brandon Auditorium was completed in 1936 and formally dedicated in October of that year with a crowd of 5,000 in attendance. [3]

Current use and restoration

The building is still used for many purposes today, and serves as home to the Brandon History Center. The two-stall fire engine garage has been no longer operational since the 1970s.[4] By the 2000s the building needed both upgrading and significant restoration work. New windows had been added in 1991. Restoration work began in 2008 and included a new heating and air conditioning system, replacement of exterior doors with historically accurate ones, tuck pointing and waterproofing the exterior walls, masonry cleaning and stabilizing, chimney repair, and railing repair. [5]

WPA artworks

The building features several WPA Federal Art Projects including a cast concrete relief sculpture of a male athlete and a musician flanking a stylized tree watching guard over the main entrance and two large wooden relief carvings frame the auditorium stage by artist Joseph Bergman. Artist Elsa Laubach Jemne created a large mural painting originally for the city council room. The mural is now on display in the building's auditorium. Elsa was commissioned to do several new deal mural projects around Minnesota and three of her works are in the Smithsonian American Art Museum. [3] [6] [7]

  • Addition of period doors
  • Waterproofing work on foundation
  • Tuck pointing work on exterior
  • Installation of entryway doors

References

  1. [1]
    "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. [2]
    Granger, Susan (July 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination: Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall / Brandon Auditorium and City Hall" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved February 5, 2014. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)[permanent dead link]
  3. [3]
    "Brandon Auditorium". LakesCountryTV, YouTube. March 5, 2012. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  4. [4]
    Susan Granger (July 1984). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall / Brandon Auditorium and City Hall". National Park Service. Retrieved October 29, 2018. With accompanying seven photos from 1983 and c.1936
  5. [5]
    "Phase I of Auditorium Restoration Completed" (PDF). The Center Piece. Fall 2010. Retrieved March 9, 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Elsa Jemne | Smithsonian American Art Museum". americanart.si.edu. Retrieved March 9, 2024.
  7. [7]
    Betterman, Hilda (September 22, 2018). "The artist behind historic Brandon mural". Voice of Alexandria. Retrieved March 9, 2024.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Brandon Auditorium and Fire Hall.


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