By Judy Wakefield
People heading to Doherty Middle School's annual winter concert tonight, Thursday, Jan 28, will be the first guests to climb the refurbished steps to the school's auditorium. And they'll see a bit of town history step, too.
After months of construction and yellow tape, the steps are finished and open.
"Finally!" said DMS principal Theresa McGuiness Darby. "It's been a long project, but we're happy to be able to use the steps for our annual winter concert."
For Plant & Facilities Director Joe Piantedosi, it's been a meaningful restoration project as his team paid close attention to the history of the building.
He said the town plans to re-dedicate the steps and the auditorium, built in 1935, this Memorial Day. Piantedosi pledged to restore the steps to their 1930s' grandeur as the building is a town tribute to 20 Andover men who died in World War I.
While residents have referred to the structure by different names, most commonly Memorial Auditorium, the building was named the Andover Memorial Building by townspeople in 1935, Piantedosi said. The town will refer to it under that name and a new plaque with the name is ready for use at the Memorial Day rededication.
"It was a big project," Piantedosi said. "The steps are done. What's left is the landscaping, the grassy area. We'll do that in the spring."
The project has been highly visible because the steps faces the Park at the corner of Chesnut and Bartlet streets in downtown Andover. The auditorium is to the left of Town Offices and Doherty Middle School.
The project has added 12 parking spaces and grass seats for Department of Community Services-sponsored summer concerts in the Park.
The steps had been crumbling for years, causing three Town Meetings to approve money for repairs.
The auditorium's outside pillars, exterior decorative trim and outdoor steps were deemed a safety hazard and emergency repairs had to be made with money approved by Town Meeting in 2008.
Now, the historical building's entrance is safe and sturdy as Town Meeting in 2009 approved $650,000 to pay for the project. The project started just after the school year ended last June.
