A historic Dalton Street building will be the next location for a local art gallery.
The building at 127 Dalton Street was purchased by Gilmer Arts shortly in early 2020, but the ensuing pandemic and other factors have prevented the project from gaining steam till recently, noted Pam Burns, Gilmer Arts manager.
“COVID kind of interrupted the forward motion. We’ve (since) been able to pull in an architect and get a project manager,” she added.
Since 2005, the local provider of visual, literary and performing arts programs has maintained a combination art gallery and class space in a separate building located at 207 Dalton Street. That was home for all Gilmer Arts events and programs until the George Link Jr. Gilmer Arts Playhouse, also on Dalton Street, opened in 2017. That allowed performing arts programs to move to the playhouse, which neighbors the future art gallery.
The forthcoming building renovation will allow a similar move for the gallery, which hosts regular art exhibits, noted Elizabeth Vititoe, Gilmer Arts board chair. The 207 Dalton building will then be used as an education center, where instructional classes will be taught.
“Right now, all of our children’s programs and adult programs and classes are held at the gallery, which can take away from the exhibits we have,” said Vititoe.
A youth art gallery for school-age children will also be kept at the current Gilmer Arts location, noted Burns. “We’re still working out the details with teachers as to how they want to handle it,” she added.
The 127 Dalton building is currently home to a United Latin American Pentecostal Church. Its pastor, Ricardo Lopez, said the church, which started there four years ago, is currently being assisted by Gilmer Arts in finding a new location.
“We don’t have a place (to go to) right now. We’re trying to buy a place, and we’re looking,” Lopez said.
Joe Cantwell, Gilmer Arts board member and lead for the gallery project, gave some details about what all the renovation will include.
“The gallery itself will be approximately 90 feet long by 40 feet wide. There is a 30 by 40 foot extension toward Dalton State College that will be used as a gift shop and offices. The main entrance will be off Sand Street because of the handicapped parking. The construction will come the whole length of the Sand Street entrance to match what we already have at the playhouse. There will be new glass entrances in front and back and a handicapped entrance in back,” he said. “The gallery and playhouse will be continuous together so people can go to the gallery during intermission. We’ll have more space and direct access between the two buildings. We’re also considering skylights like some of the galleries in Atlanta have,” Cantwell added.
The 4,000-square foot building, listed on county records as built in 1940, is within Ellijay’s historic district. Gilmer Arts is working with the Historic Preservation Commission to follow their guidelines for the renovation, noted Cantwell.
“We are essentially keeping the storefront and brick facade, but improving on it. They don’t foresee, and we don’t foresee, any real problems,” he said.
Around $500,000 will have to be raised for the renovations to be done, Cantwell noted. A golf tournament next month is among the planned fundraisers for that purpose, he noted.
Actual construction probably won’t get started till sometime next year, Cantwell said. It will probably take a year to complete all the renovations, he added.
Replacing the roof and possibly extending the height of the building will be among the first tasks.
“We’re trying to determine if it’s feasible to do what we want to do with a minimum of new construction. We’re investigating, structurally, what we can do and (if we will) have to take the roof structure off in order to gain (another) 2 feet. As we get the concept plans a little bit further, especially the roof, we’ll put it out for bid,” Cantwell said.