Two developers have plans for a relocated Gettysburg Cyclorama building
The former Gettysburg Cyclorama building won’t face the bulldozer’s blade in December after all. Here, visitors experience the Cyclorama in its final days at its longtime post. Background posts: Gettysburg Cyclorama critics: Reviews ranged from ‘huge dinosaur’ to ‘I was captivated’, Poster highlights the life of a Civil War soldier and Old Gettysburg visitors center closes today; new site opens Monday.
National Park Service officials will wait to demolish the old Gettysburg Cyclorama building until a court rules on its fate.
A preservation group, Recent Past Preservation Network, has taken the government to court over plans to knock down the familiar round building that housed the Cyclorama from 1961 until recent years. The circular painting, moved to the new Gettysburg visitors center, was opened to the public in September.
According to news reports, the preservation group thinks the park service should explore alternatives before demolition. The park service maintains it sought all such options in 1999 in preparing a plan for the park.
One wonders what the hurry is to demolish the building… .
That’s particularly so after news recently that two new options have been put forth.
A new home could await the old building on Steinwehr Avenue or at Gateway Gettysburg.
Two Gettysburg businessmen say they are open to the idea of relocating the building – which until recently housed the famous Cyclorama painting – on their properties.
According to news reports, Eric Uberman said he has about three acres on Steinwehr Avenue near the American Civil War Museum that could serve as a future site for the relocated Cyclorama building.
Gateway Gettysburg is a hotel and convention complex owned by Bob Monahan near routes 30 and 15, east of Gettysburg.
Court records show that the Cyclorama building, designed by famed architect Richard Neutra, could be moved using “dolly wheels and a grid of steel beams.”
The park has plans to restore Ziegler’s Grove, site of the Cyclorama building and the neighboring former visitor center, to its 1863 Civil War appearance.
Ziegler’s Grove has not looked its 1863 self for decades. A few more months that would allow other plans to develop for the building won’t matter.
The park service should sit on the keys to the bulldozer a bit longer.
Some groups want the old Electric Map, too. Read more at Half dozen groups probe acquisition of Gettysburg’s retired Electric Map.
