1912 Center Top Floor Open During Markets; Fundraising Under Way

MOSCOW – The light-filled Great Room and adjacent kitchen arguably are the downtown community 1912 Center’s most-booked spaces for lunches, dinners, dances and receptions. But the 112-diner capacity can feel tight. A 200-person ballroom and commercial kitchen on the third floor are in the works to add a spacious venue to Moscow’s beloved historic gathering place.

The public will have access to view the top floor during the season’s first two Winter Markets, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturdays, Nov. 1 and 8.

The anticipated $5M to $7M renovation is expected to have all documents in place by the end of this year, said Jenny Kostroff, executive director of Heart of the Arts, Inc., the nonprofit that operates the building for the city. Fundraising will continue in 2026 until $1M is available to identify an architect and begin work on infrastructure in 2027. About $350K has been raised so far, she said.

Taxes don’t fund the project; it is supported by gifts and some grant money.

As with previous work to revitalize the landmark former school, the third floor will progress in phases.

“Our town will do what it can, when it can to see these spaces realized,” Kostroff said. “We are the tortoise and not the hare; we are making purposeful decisions that serve our community as funding and phases progress.” 

Among those decisions are the commercial kitchen that spans the east end of the building with four work stations and as many deep wall ovens, refrigerators and sinks. Freezers, wheeled carts, a clean-up area and a large farm table for dining will fill out the space.

“It might host cooking classes, caterers, or multiple Farmers Market vendors prepping,” Kostroff said. 

Two west side studios, with kitchenette between, have the best views from the entire building. They look southwest over downtown Moscow as far as the UI water tower and Kibbie Dome. Among the spaces awaiting naming donors, they could be appropriately christened the “(Family Name) Skylounge,” Kostroff said.

Naming donors typically pay a percentage of the cost of work, Kostroff said. For example, donors who funded a window restoration paid $1,912 of the $3,000 cost – and have their name on the window. 

Other deliberate plans include terrazzo flooring in the kitchen to echo the terrazzo in the 1912 Center’s first-floor entryways, and spacious glass and wood doorways between the kitchen and ballroom that echo the Reception Gallery doorways on the second floor.

Student names and graduation years shakily written, graffiti-like, on the kitchen wall with pencils jabbed through the now-removed radiator will be preserved and covered with Plexiglas. Elsewhere in the kitchen, donor names will be inscribed on new subway-tile walls in a nod to the continuance of history.  

“The town built this school building,” Kostroff said. “They had a university and perhaps realized they needed a high school to start preparing the local farm kids to continue their education and help the town succeed and progress.”

Just as copper wire pipes in the floor of the Arts Workshop reflect the room’s initial use as a chemistry lab, Kostroff hopes the “culinary lab” experience of the new kitchen will teach the AI generation of young people to enjoy the chemistry and flavor of intentional food prep and meal making – and thus continue the history of community.