Hurricane Ian pounded Naples arts buildings, ruining some venues, leaving fish at others

The angry waters of Hurricane Ian raced through Collier County's westernmost arts buildings, caking a foot of mud on historic sites, soaking filing drawers of records, even moving walls.

Damage to arts venues ranged from nil, including Artis—Naples, improved after Hurricane Irma damaged its Baker Museum in 2017, to near destruction in the Wang Opera Center.

But the muses push on. For places like the waterlogged United Arts Council offices on Fourth Avenue North, the pandemic may have been a trial run for homes being turned into administrative offices. Cleanup is in progress before its new executive director, Elysia Dawn, arrives Nov. 1.  The Marco Island Center for the Arts quickly swept the water off its floors and got back to business.

And in one well-fortified location on Marco Island, plans are afoot to welcome a new exhibition at a building that shrugged off Hurricane Ian.

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Marco Island museum was built for Ian

On Sept. 28, one cat nested, dry, comfortable, never breaking into a wooden sweat as the hurricane swirled around its home at the Marco Island Historical Museum. The Key Marco Cat, a priceless island artifact that has come home on loan from the Smithsonian Institution, suffered no power outage, no leaky roof, no water lapping at its near-1,500-year-old feet.

"We always knew there was a risk because we're on a barrier island. So when the museum was built, there was always that knowledge we would need to make a provision," said Pat Rutledge, CEO of the Marco Island Historical Society, which is behind the museum's fortress qualities.

The society built up the land to seat its foundation higher and partnered with the county to install a generator, a prime requirement to keep rare artifacts, such as this 1896 archeological find, temperature- and humidity-controlled.

"It kicked in flawlessly," Rutledge declared. "I came in Thursday morning (Sept. 29), and someone from the county was onsite, wanting to check the levels of fuel to make sure we have the fuel we needed. So that all worked as planned."

If the separate administration building hadn't lost power, the museum could have been ready for business as usual the morning after the hurricane. It has been operating since that weekend, and this Wednesday, Oct. 26, it opens "Art of the Dig: Wells Sawyer’s Watercolors" with original works from an artist who accompanied the archeological dig that discovered the cat.

The surge, which was estimated to have tipped 7 feet in some places, did not even reach the doors. The museum had just redesigned its lobby to hold several exhibits and Rutledge worried about an incursion, but it stood dry on its self-contained island.

"Hurricane Irma was a good trial for us," added Austin Bell, curator of collections, recalling the Category 3 storm that hit Marco directly in 2017. "That showed us this could fare well during a major hurricane."

Could it have been through the charm of the Key Marco Cat? Rutledge isn't buying that:

"It was the charm of the generator."

An opening reception for "Art of the Dig: Wells Sawyer’s Watercolors" will be held 5-6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, at the Marco Island Historical Museum, 180 S. Heathwood Drive, Marco Island. Fee watercolor kits will be available while supplies last. 

Love to Palm Cottage, with Albanian roots

Mud wrestling has taken on a new context for the Naples Historical Society and its architectural ambassador for the city, Historic Palm Cottage at 137 12th Ave. S., Naples. The day after Hurricane Ian, Elaine Reed, Naples Historical Society president and CEO, arrived to find its front porch piled with at least a foot of sludge, making entry impossible.

Reed spent six hours shoveling it off. And that was only a start.

"The big issue for us has been the deluge of mud and the Gulf of Mexico seabed that found its way into every corner of Palm Cottage, which means it covered the Dade County pine floor. Every inch of it," she lamented.

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The society staff has 14- to 18-hour days clearing the first floor out, with what Reed calls "invaluable help" from the community.

Sometimes it came from unusual places. Reed had worked for the U.S. government in Albania, coming to love the people and learn the language. She has maintained ties with Albanian communities in the U.S. including the Albanian-American Association of Southwest Florida.

So when the society put a plea for volunteers, a friend in the association called Reed to tell her "a few" of its members would come out.

"Thirty-eight people showed up!" she marveled.

That concentrated effort made immense progress in dispatching a major portion of the mud, she said.

There is still landscaping to be replanted, historical furniture to be restored and artifacts to be cleaned. Last week, a wood restoration company was taking apart its floor, plank by mud-logged plank, grinding down the jagged nails and hand-cleaning every one.

"We are stewards of this house. And we're going to do it the right way," Reed said.

The society can't give an exact date when the house will be open, but it hopes that will be yet this season. And it hopes to have the garden ready for its annual December fundraiser.

"Now more than ever," she said.

The building itself remains a testament to its pioneer construction, she said: "This house was built in 1895. Not one window was broken, not one roof shingle was removed. Not one door was removed. This place is solid."

More information, volunteer and donation opportunities: napleshistoricalsociety.org

Opera Naples gave new director a wet welcome

When Laura Burns walked into the office that was to be hers at Opera Naples on Oct. 3, its walls had been stripped to the metal frame from the floor to several feet up. Furniture was piled on the desk and print records in the filing cabinet were welded together like a phyllo crust.

Those are the records they can retrieve: "We have drawers we can't get open," Burns said.

It wasn't the job Burns envisioned as new executive director for the organization. But she is now executive director of a building in need of a massive overhaul, suffering, like a number of other places, from extensive water damage.

Sewage backed up into the sinks. They're toast. The humidity that molded fabrics ruined its seats; all 264 will go. Moisture in the cooling system even rendered some of the upstairs wardrobe useless; those are being inspected and laundered now. The sprung wood floor stage took in water from both sides and bowed. Sofas, desks and props are gone. Its piano needs $8,000 in repairs.

Burns estimates the damage at six figures, but is optimistic about coming back better. The high ceilings in the Wang Opera Center may allow the organization to build up its floors for a more hurricane-resistant future.

And while it is casting about for rehearsal space right now, Opera Naples has found a new location and date, thanks to The Naples Players, for its "Olé!" evening of Spanish and Latin music. The event will be in the lobby and at the Tobye Studio Theatre in its building. And not surprisingly, it has turned into a benefit concert.

The pandemic also may have inspired a saving grace: Much of the opera's season is in its outdoor "Festival Under the Stars" at Cambier Park's softball diamond. That outdoor venue is the result of needing a highly ventilate spaced during the primary COVID-19 years in 2020 and 2021.

Information on "Ole!" scheduled for Nov. 7, and the Opera Naples season, along with volunteer and donation opportunities, is available at operanaples.org.

Gulfshore Playhouse gets an Ian setback

Gulfshore Playhouse can count the most diverse losses meted out by Hurricane Ian.

It lost its season opening play, "26 Miles," when the actors had to be evacuated from their River Park area apartments the day before Ian struck.

"Thank goodness, recalled Kristen Coury, founder and artistic director. "The entire first floor of our housing got inundated with water."

Its venue, The Norris Community Center, was on a built-up lot, and escaped water damage.

"But the power was out, and after Irma it took two weeks to get the power back," Coury said. Taking chances was not an option. Coury sent the actors home.

Gulfshore Playhouse also lost its partnership production with Artis—Naples, "Midsummer." The enrichment adaptation of Shakespear's "A Midsummer Night's Dream," set to play with full orchestra for nearly 7,000 students in Collier County Public Schools, was scrapped when schools could not reopen in time.

"It's a quarter million dollar hit we took for sure, and that's just on our operations," she said.

Then, Ian dug into its new construction. Workers had to demolish two mainstage side walls erected where Gulfshore Playhouse is building its new theater complex on Goodlette Road a block from U.S. 41. Those are inner walls, not the building's shell, and they were only rated to withstand 80 mph winds, not the 100-plus mph winds Ian was packing.

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"One of them tipped quite dramatically during the storm, and we had to demolish it immediately. We didn't want it to fall on the road and hurt somebody.

"The second wall mirroring it is leaning just about 3½ inches, which you would think is nothing, but after a week of laser tests and everything else, they've determined it's just not going to match up with the structural steel, and they've got to take that down, too," she said.

At Coury's insistence, the contractor is inspecting all pipes and lines for movement or damage. So at this point, she said, they don't have a final estimate of cost — or of how long it will set back the new theater's opening. But there are some happy takeaways.

"In the final moments of the design we elected to raise it up another 3 feet, and I'm very, very grateful because water actually got as high as 6 or 7 feet and the site is actually 12 feet," she said. "It came within 5 feet of the top of the hill, but it didn't encroach the top of the hill."

Coury said the receding water left fish on the property.

"So I guess we truly are a Gulfshore Playhouse now," she quipped.

For information on the upcoming Gulfshore Playhouse production, "Steel Magnolias," opening Nov. 12, and donation opportunities, see gulfshoreplayhouse.org

Harriet Howard Heithaus covers arts and entertainment for the Naples Daily News/naplesnews.com. Reach her at 239-213-6091.

This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Naples arts venues hit by Ian storm surge begin rebuilding