Through the test of time, the Taylor Little Theatre and library still stand today as majestic as they were when they were first constructed in 1953. Today, we reflect on the opening of the Taylor Little Theatre and library by reading from the May 5, 1953 edition of the Merciad.
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Bishop Gannon Dedicates New Library Tomorrow
Dedication of the Joseph J. Weber Memorial Library will take place tomorrow afternoon on the front campus of the college with His Excellency, the Most. Rev. John Mark Gannon of Erie, officiating. Members of the Erie clergy, Mercyhurst alumnae, and the faculty and student body of the college will be present at the ceremony.
Designed by architect Brandon Smith of Pittsburgh, Pa., the new wing includes a complete library and little theatre. The addition is connected to the administration building by a brick breezeway, which opens into a large foyer. From the foyer, a circular staircase leads down to the little theatre and upwards to the main library.
The library itself consists of a main reading room with adjoining stacks, a browsing room and periodical room with workrooms for the librarians. The arched ceiling of the reading room is of Douglas fir, and the entire section is furnished in blond birch. High point of interest in the library is the twenty-five foot painting of Del Sarto’s “Assumption,” a gift of Bishop Gannon to Mercyhurst.
The little theatre, complete with ticket office, check room, reception room and dressing rooms is on the ground floor of the building. All the decorative art is the work of the Junior Art students, who used a French Roccoco design in white, blue, and Chinese red on the ceiling and around the paneled mirrors on the side walls. Seats in aqua and an aqua velvet curtain for the state complete the theatre.
The building will be formally opened to the public with premier performance “Brigadoon” on Thursday evening, May 7.
