VAN BUREN, Maine — The century-old Gayety Theatre was a thriving community hub for the northern Maine border town of Van Buren for more than six decades before it closed.
Brothers Jason and Dayton Grandmaison, both Van Buren natives, bought it seven years ago and vowed to bring it back. Now, new national recognition is boosting its restoration.
The building recently earned a spot on the National Register of Historic Places. The distinction will help bring grant money to a major project the brothers say will be unlike almost anything in Maine. They plan to recreate the Main Street building as authentically as possible and make it a place for more than movies.
“We want to do this for the community and surrounding communities,” Jason Grandmaison said. “We have a building here that, when we’re done, can have plays, can have concerts and we’ll be able to have movies. We’ll be able to do a bunch of multipurpose things here, all for the St. John Valley.”
A building must be significant to the community’s origins and cultural history to be on the federal list, according to the National Register. It should also relate to continuing social or cultural activities. The theater’s century-long history as a cultural hub in the middle of town aligns with those qualities.
An official from the registry visited the site, which is required for placement, and was amazed at how much was still intact, from the stage and exterior facade to the arched windows on the second floor, Dayton Grandmaison said. That put the building on a fast track for approval.
“They couldn’t believe how much was still left,” Jason Grandmaison said.
As far as the brothers know, the only comparable project in Maine is the Augusta Colonial Theater, also more than a century old, first opening in 1913. It, too, is being restored amid downtown revitalization and, like the Gayety Theatre, will become a multipurpose community hub.
The Gayety was first owned by the Van Buren Theater Company for four years, then burned. It was rebuilt and operated by Lillian Keegan for 36 years, and then the brothers’ grandfather, Gilman Grandmaison, owned it for two decades. During that time it functioned as more than a movie theater, housing an arcade and a video rental store. Its large auditorium hosted meetings and events. It closed in 1983.
When the Grandmaisons bought it back in 2019, the leaking roof was a major concern. It hadn’t been touched since the 1950s and was soaked and soggy in the middle due to absorbing water, the brothers said.
The two have completely replaced the roof and are raising funds for the remaining work. The new Polyglass rubber roof took more than 50,000 pounds of weight off the building, workers told them.
The weight reduction will help the building’s longevity. The new roof is white, instead of black, which will help drop the attic temperature by about 20 degrees and make it easier on air conditioning units.
The Grandmaisons want the building to be as much as possible like it was in its heyday, so are using some of the original materials in the restoration. Bricks from the old chimney, for example, will be used in the facade. The newly installed front doors aren’t from the theater itself, but come from the town’s former Yacht Club building — a longstanding part of the town’s history that was demolished last year.
The brothers have learned a lot.
“[Jason] has become an expert on how to install a roof, how to rebuild a floor from scratch, how to insulate a brick building, and so on,” Dayton Grandmaison said. “I call him our ‘engineer.’”
They are currently working to raise a 20% match for a grant from the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, which could be between a quarter and a half million dollars.
If they get the grant, the theatre could reopen as soon as three or four years from now, Jason Grandmaison said.
The funds would cover a major portion of the work, which includes new electricity and plumbing and major interior renovations. It may not cover digital projection equipment, but would allow the to open the stage and pay for sound equipment, a storefront and a museum in the front.
The museum will focus not just on the theater but on town history, with items found by the Grandmaisons and donated by community members. They will also restore and display old movie posters they found in the building, some dating back to the 1920s and 30s.
Grant funding or not, the brothers intend to restore the entire building. It will just take longer without financial help, they said.
Anyone interested in contributing can mail donations to The Gayety Theatre Project, Dayton Grandmaison, 45 Main St., Van Buren, ME 04785. For information, visit the Friends of the Gayety Theatre Facebook group,.
Between now and opening day, the Grandmaisons are spending nearly all their free time at the building.
“This is a very distinctive and beautiful building,” Dayton Grandmaison said. “When I started researching it in high school for a school project I just fell in love with it. There’s so much history, and it really is just a beautiful building. And it’s a fortress; she’s going to be here for a long time.”
