The Gothic Theater revitalized warehouse
The Gothic Theater Two adjoining warehouses become a three-level, 1,500-capacity music venue in Old Town, Maine
The Gothic is a 20,000-square-foot live entertainment venue in downtown Old Town, built from two adjacent warehouse buildings joined into one. Three levels, capacity for 1,800, with Premium Seating Sections and VIP areas. It opens onto the street and connects to Kanù and the IVY club level next door.
Ervin Architecture is designing it with owner Alex Gray. The venue will likely operate in partnership with Live Nation. The design carries forward the lessons and performance metrics EA established on the Maine Savings Amphitheater: sight lines, fan-to-fixture ratios, ingress and egress, and how premium seating is laid out and used.
Maine needs an edgy contemporary venue for intimate performances by top-caliber artists. Touring acts are looking for a scalar shift in their venues: smaller rooms, unique shows, more direct engagement with the audience. Maine’s existing live entertainment theaters are stale. The Gothic fills that niche for a fan base looking for something memorable.
Location
Old Town, Maine
STYLE
Gothic, Beaux-Arts mix
Services
Residential Design & Engineering
CATEGORY
Commercial
Restaurants + Bars
Nightclubs
Performance Venues
PROJECT SIZE
20500 FT² / 1904 M²
Urban Music Venue Design THIRD VENUE ON THE SAME BLOCK
A Music and Performing Arts Venue in Old Town, Maine
The Live Entertainment Sector of EA has another exciting project on the boards; an intimate music & performing arts venue adjacent to our sister project Kanù. The true nature of how this venue will operate, the types of acts that fans can expect, and the final capacity of the venue are all works in progress. These considerations are all part of an evolving design that weighs functional (egress, ingress, acoustics, sight lines), aesthetic, and economic components equally in an effort to produce another world-class atmosphere that represents only the very best in Live Entertainment venue design.
Two Buildings Joined into a 20,000-Square-Foot Venue
More specifically, Ervin Architecture is working closely with the owner of two neighboring properties that will be conjoined to produce a single 20,000 sf facility with capacity numbers potentially in excess of 1500 fans spread across three levels. This venue will be accessible directly from the street and also from within the adjacent Kanù restaurant. Early amenities include multiple bars serving up tasty craft cocktails and local beers, full concessions with local cuisine featuring seafood, venison, and vegan options, luxurious bathroom facilities, as well as a rooftop patio for pre and post performance entertainment and socializing.
Structure, Egress and Infrastructure
Project challenges to demo existing interiors in both buildings, conjoin the buildings by a significant load-bearing wall, and adding additional building infrastructure such as mezzanines, kitchen facilities, an elevator, and favorable fan to fixture ratios in the bath facility, all requires dollars that make sense. However, the post-pandemic recovery continues throughout America and no industry was been hit harder or has been more integral to the economic recovery than the entertainment industry. Socializing, and more importantly, being entertained en masse while socializing, continues to strengthen even in small communities like Old Town, Maine.
Live Entertainment Venues as Economic Catalysts
Venues at this scale are economic catalysts in any market. They create jobs, draw visitors, and give a downtown a reason to stay open after six. The arts and culture sector is an $878 billion industry supporting 5.1 million jobs in the United States, about 4.5% of the national economy — a larger share of GDP than agriculture or transportation. Arts attendees spend an average of $31.47 per person beyond the ticket price on meals, retail, parking and lodging, and arts travelers stay longer and spend more than other visitors. In a community the size of Old Town, that spending lands on a small number of local businesses, where it is felt.
And so we embark on another design journey. Stay tuned for more updates on another exciting opportunity.
