Nora Grace-Flood photos
Renewed mission: Violet Harlow, John Cavaliere, Andre Marti at work.
Restoration is in full swing at Westville Village’s hub of reinvention.
The work was taking place inside Lyric Hall, the circa 1913 vaudeville theater at 827 Whalley Ave. that John Cavaliere has revived and repurposed for the past 15 years.
Cavaliere originally moved his antiques restoration business there. Then he revived the vaudeville theater space in the back to become a popular performance and events space.
He has struggled to keep the business running, especially after cleaning up after six separate floods.
After a failed attempt to sell the business back in 2018 — which may have gone awry, Cavaliere reflected, because of the fact that the building is located in a flood zone — Cavaliere has found a way keep the building, which a restored vintage-1913 vaudeville theater, afloat.
Cavaliere holding a self-portrait of his own mentor, Robert Dunn.
Cavaliere and his crew have found new energy and purpose after wading through the depths of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The pandemic made it impossible for Cavaliere to reap profits from the musical performances, circus acts and drag shows that became an anchor for the business.
So, in 2020, Cavaliere removed the venue’s bar, shut down the stage and converted the space into a full-time art restoration center, his longtime craft that he had come to practice only in the theater’s basement.
“There’s been an uptick in business; an increase like never before,” Cavaliere told the Independent Tuesday. Meanwhile, his two-person team — including Andre Marti, who has worked as an apprentice for Cavaliere for the past nine years, and Violet Harlow — was repairing a gold frame that had been tarnished by time, and by its owners’ attempt to cover up its age with spray paint. (“Bless their hearts,” Cavaliere said.)
Andre Marti: "When you find something you love, it's not really work."
Violet Harlow with taxidermy "boyfriend" Borris: "I brush his hair and tell him how beautiful he is."
Each day is “always different,” Marti said of working in antique restoration. “When you work in an office, paper work over and over again, everything’s too familiar. Doing that for years and years and years, you get bored. But here, it’s like, what am I working on today?”
Before beginning work, he said his day would entail stripping a 16th century mantle. “When you find something you love, it’s not really work,” he stated with a smile.
Lyric Hall: Surviving floodwaters.
Since Cavaliere moved his antique business to the main floor of the building, “there are new fingerprints on the windows from people looking in” — and, at the building itself, which Cavaliere called his “biggest antique.”
Lyric Hall in Caveliere's words: "A highly glorified barn with a chandelier in it."
While the theater is currently closed, Cavaliere is still finding ways to bring people into his practice: inviting in curious passersby who spot him working through the building’s glass facade or opening doors to smiling faces looking for a job or apprenticeship.
Cavaliere said that he believes business is now actually booming because of Covid-19. “We’re taking on new projects because people are home,” he said. “They wanna make their homes beautiful, cozy and safe. People are turning inward.”
Cavaliere has done the same for himself. Lyric Hall is, after all, not just where he works, but where he sleeps and eats.
One of Cavaliere's former apprentices making pizza in Lyric Hall's antique kitchen.
Marti, a past Planet Fitness employee, met Cavaliere when Cavaliere visited the gym, and came to work long term at Lyric Hall to learn a new trade.
Cavaliere is also trying to figure out a way to ensure that Lyric Hall can continue to evolve and take on new life, like the antiques that it houses, through support from the city.
Lyric Hall is now listed in the National Register of Historic places after a century serving as an auto part store, bicycle shop, and candy bar. In the 15 years Cavaliere has owned the building, it has flooded six different times, filling his basement to the brim with dirty water, disrupting and destroying his work.
Cavaliere told the Independent that the building currently has no heat or ventilation because of Hurricane Ida, which knocked out the furnace and HVAC system.
Westville during Hurricane Ida last year; video courtesy of Caveliere.
He has appealed to the Elicker administration for help. He has also been in touch with U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s office for help securing funds to help restore the building’s foundation.
The conversation and visit at Lyric Hall began by happenstance, with a conversation a block away at the Citgo station, where Marti spoke with WNHH FM’s “LoveBabz LoveTalk” program for a “Word on the Street” segment about his work. Click on the video to watch that conversation.