- By Dan Veaner
- Around Town
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The Savage Club of Ithaca is moving to Lansing. The 125 year old arts and literature club is purchasing the Faith Baptist Fellowship Church building on Auburn Road between South and North Lansing. Club Treasurer C. William Heffner presented a plan to convert the church to a meeting/rehearsal and performance space to the Town of Lansing Planning Board Monday.
"The church that's out there is just ideal. One, because it has a basement," Heffner told the Board. "The upstairs, the sanctuary, is a perfect spot for small performances. And once we saw it, aside from our own idea for us to perform for ourselves and for some small audiences, we thought long term it would be a wonderful space for amateurs and other people who are trying to find a space to either to practice in or to perform in. Around Tompkins County it's hard to find places where it would not be expensive."
The Savage Club was founded by members of the Cornell University Mandolin, Banjo, Glee Club in 1895. It was a charter club of the Savage Club of London. Its purpose is the enjoyment of music, literature and the performing arts. The club meets for dinner and a show, performed by club members, each month. They will also use it as a rehearsal space for community variety shows and other performances.
The club has collaborated with the Ithaca Rotary Club for almost a decade on the Little Apple Fall Follies (LAFF) in October, which raises money for community arts grants, and regularly presents other fundraising performances, including a popular Cornell reunion show. The most recent was a virtual Reunion Show last June.
"We are a 501(c)(3) corporation, so our mission is to try and encourage people to perform, to just love the happiness of music and and literature and the arts as it has sustained many of us," Heffner said.
For now the club plans no major renovations to the building, but does want to do things like improve railings, stairs and gutters, repaint the interior and some grounds work. Initially the building will serve as a club meeting and rehearsal space. Eventually they hope to host performances in the space, and to offer it to local performers as an affordable practice or performance space.
The Planning Board proposed conditions: that performances end before 11pm, and that there be no street parking. Heffner said the real estate listing says there is parking for up to 60 cars. Planning Board member Larry Sharpsteen said the club may have to develop some of the property behind the building to reach that number of spaces. Planning Board members said they are happy the building will continue to be put to good use. They voted unanimously to recommend the project to the Town Board, which will then vote on approving the Special use Permit.
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