Art Chowder September | October, Issue 23 | Page 36

The Living Room with View of the Fireplace The oil painting over the mantel, A Young Woman with One Shoulder Undraped [this author’s title] is by American illustrator Frank Xavier Leyendecker (1878-1924). The French-style pair of figurines above the piano on the right are Dresden ware. The Louis XV style piano is by Kranich & Bach, c. 1905. photo: Melville Holm es M iss Woldson had bequeathed over 50 million dollars to the university, largely in order to build a performing arts center on campus. A part of this project would include exact reconstructions of four rooms on the main floor of her home, with all the artworks and furnishings exactly where she had arranged them. (By the way, Gonzaga also got that silly little parking lot in Seattle.) The Myrtle Woldson Performing Arts Center officially opened at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, with a gala performance on April 25, 2019. More than a mere performance venue, the Center is also a state-of-the-art, cutting- edge, interdisciplinary performing arts educational facility and laboratory. It is the result of what amounted to a collaborative “think tank” among faculty, staff, architects, engineers, designers, and experts on lighting and sound, who brain- stormed over what was necessary and how to maximize the possibilities. 36 ART CHOWDER MAGAZINE View of the Reproduced Living Room with Fireplace, as built in the Performing Arts Center photo: Gonzaga University, Zack Berlat While the building’s distinctive asymmetrical style remains a far cry from Miss Woldson’s classical taste, the cost of a historical revival would surely have consumed much of what went into its serious functionality. At 57,550 square feet, the Center is a masterpiece of environmental engineering. Designed principally by Pfeiffer Partners of Los Angeles, the building is outfitted with new theatrical lighting and equipment that uses less than 20 percent of what would be needed for traditional lighting and equipment. Solar panels on the roof provide on-site renewable energy. LED lighting is used throughout, and because the theatrical lighting is digitized it can also be creatively colorized.