Thorne Building renovations continue

MILLBROOK — Renovations to Millbrook’s Thorne Building are now in the final stage of planning with the restoration work expected to finish just beyond the 2027 deadline.

Leading the renovation efforts is the Millbrook Community Partnership, or MCP, a nonprofit organization which acquired the Thorne Building from the Village of Millbrook to renovate the building and operate it as a community center.

The Thorne Building was constructed in 1894 in response to criticism from a Poughkeepsie newspaper columnist who observed that Millbrook, while having strong public infrastructure in general at the time, lacked a suitable public school. Samuel Thorne, whose distant nephew Oakleigh Thorne leads the MCP, elected to build a school — the recognizable beaux-arts building undergoing renovations today.

“[The Thorne Building] is really the reason Millbrook became a village,” said Krista Fragos, project manager of the building’s renovation. At the time of the school’s construction, Millbrook was an unincorporated community. As a formal village government was required to accept the building as a gift, the construction of the Thorne Memorial School, as it was known, provided the motivation for Millbrook to incorporate.

Interior renovations to the Thorne Building intend to restore the structure for use as a community event space.Photo by Charlie Greenberg

Following the relocation of Millbrook High School, which was previously located in the Thorne Building, to its present location in the 1960s, the Thorne Building has seen infrequent use. Though the structure has not deteriorated majorly, significant modernization is required to adapt the building to any of the various uses proposed for it.

In keeping with the Thorne Building’s historical place at the core of the village, The MCP decided that it should be converted into a versatile community center.

The Thorne Building’s location in the geographical center of Dutchess County and recognizably in downtown Millbrook makes it well-suited to its future function serving a wide range of interests in the community, said Michael Sloan, the redesigned building’s architect.

A multi-purpose theater, designed by renowned theatrical architect David Korins, will be the centerpiece of the refurbished Thorne Building. “We’re paying special attention to the acoustics,” Fragos said; the MCP has engaged acousticians Charcoalblue to that end.

Additionally, the planned community center will house coworking spaces, arts facilities and a professional kitchen.

Work has already been done to strip the building of decayed plaster and asbestos, a representative of the MCP said.

“The board has approved all the major design plans. At this point, it’s just down to where things like outlets go,” Fragos said. While architects and engineers are at work on the final granular details of the building’s design, the MCP is preparing for the next steps and is planning to release an update in the near future.

Once the final plans for the building are in, the MCP will open bids to contractors for the construction work on the building. At that point, construction work will take around two years.

“We’re making progress every day,” Fragos said.