By Diana Dias

July 18, 2024

The St. Croix Historic Preservation Committee met on Thursday morning for its monthly meeting via Microsoft Teams to discuss the progress of plan development for the Alexander Theater and other matters.

Under the St. Croix Foundation, the Alexander Theater, located in the heart of what is known as “Sunday Market Square” in Christiansted town, received partial funding from FEMA in 2019 for the renovation and retrofit of the theater to transform it into a state-of-the-art-performing arts center. According to the St. Croix Foundation website, initially built in 1954 by Joseph Alexander, the theater was created to help sustain culture and economic significance into the 20th Century. However, the once movie theater has deteriorated for over two decades.

The square used to be a gathering space where enslaved people would trade goods, connect with loved ones, and socialize on Sundays. Throughout the 1900s, it remained a popular meeting space. However, today, the square looks nothing like it did back in those days. The square functions as a roadway for vehicles to pass through an empty space.

Gerville Larsen of Taller Larjas, LLC Architecture & Design presented the design on behalf of the St. Croix Foundation. The project includes a safe room accommodating up to 300 people during a catastrophic hurricane.

Larsen said that for the theater’s design to come alive, they will request the demolition of a concrete building behind the historic building where Singh’s restaurant is located. They will also request a partial demo of a small building that used to be a flower shop, and they are asking for the removal of that as well as a concrete slab.

For the historic cottage that they are preserving, there are small concrete appendages on the back that they are requesting to be removed and demolished as well. The new building will wrap the theater. It will include a restaurant that will have a commercial kitchen, the lobby will be redeveloped with a ramp that will lead you into the historic building, designated offices, public restrooms, a protective space where attendees can get fresh air on the third floor where you can use an elevator.

In his presentation, Larsen said that Sunday Market Square was the only dedicated market for enslaved Africans where they could sell whatever additional provisions they could from being on the plantation.

“This whole design is to reconfigure the narrative about who built the cultural resources that we are protecting within these districts and throughout the island.  This is why I think it needs to be treated differently than other spaces within the square and there are many things that the building will be inscribed with that we will then sort of articulate within exhibits throughout the space that will talk to this. So that we really look at how we treat the buildings in a very contemporary way, but really come back to who are the real builders of the town,” he said.

Larsen said that the theater could be used as an after-school teaching space for performing arts, cinema-related classes, and dance classes—basically, a community performing arts center.

In February 2020, right before the peak of COVID, the St. Croix Foundation expressed its excitement about the reconstruction and development of the theater. They even reflected on the first movie ever shown at the theater entitled “The Robe,” in 1954, where they accommodated a full house.