And the band played on

Chandelier Ballroom avoids the wrecking ball

By Daniel Kurt

An evening outside at the Schwartz Photo courtesy of the Hartford History Room

The Schwartz Ballroom in Hartford opened on Oct. 20, 1928, with the live sounds of Harold Austin and his New Yorkers drifting through the octagonal building.

Sixty-eight years later, in 1996, the Schwartz, now known as the Chandelier Ballroom, faced the end of its run, and the sounds of its closing were certain to be far less pleasant than anything Harold Austin would have played.

But Tom Miotke, chairman of Milwaukee-based The Jansen Group Inc., and other local business leaders stepped in to make sure the wrecking ball couldn’t play its song. For Miotke, it was more than a business decision.

The now 79-year-old ballroom is an important part of Washington County’s past. Since its early days, the building’s main hall hosted renowned entertainers who seemed out of place in a town of just 13,000. And it was also a favorite haunt for Miotke, who said he would enjoy a beer and listen to music with his friends when he was younger.

The Schwartz Ballroom, Hartford, Wisconsin, 1930s Photo courtesy of the Hartford History Room

But by the mid-1990s, the establishment was showing its age and losing money. Miotke, who saw other historic buildings in the area get demolished, said he didn’t want to see the hangout of his early years meet the same fate.

So he and others convinced the community that funding the building’s renovation and paying off its outstanding debt was a way to safeguard an important part of Hartford’s past.

“Any time you’re part of saving something historic from the wrecking ball, it’s a great accomplishment,” Miotke said.

For Dennis Carroll, treasurer of the Hartford Historic Preservation Foundation, the nonprofit group that now owns the structure, preserving the Chandelier Ballroom was imperative.

“A city without old buildings is like an old man without memories,” he said.

Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Schwartz Ballroom was built by brewery owner Joseph Schwartz Jr. when jazz and big-band music were starting to flourish, according to Chandelier Ballroom historical documents. The ballroom management took full advantage, successfully attracting some of the biggest names in the industry.

The Jansen Group is in the midst of a restoration project to the interior and exterior of the Chandelier Ballroom in Hartford. Photo courtesy of The Jansen Group Inc.

In the early days, the likes of Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, Benny Goodman and Louis Armstrong all played the Schwartz. In 1931, the facility even put Hartford in the national spotlight, according to the facility’s historical data, when local radio station WTMJ broadcast Schwartz events live over the entire CBS network.

When the country entered World War II, however, entertainment became a low priority, but the ballroom still served a purpose. The military recognized the facility as a logical place to house German prisoners of war, and 300 to 600 people called it home from 1944 to 1946, according to the Chandelier Ballroom’s online history.

When Marty Zivko bought the ballroom in 1949, he wanted to restore it as a live entertainment venue. Before long, though, the music that once made the facility popular gave way to a new genre.

So Zivko steered the operation in a new direction and renamed the building Zivko’s Rock ‘n Roll Palace, bringing in acts as varied as Chubby Checker, Ted Nugent and Meatloaf, according to Michele Price, the ballroom’s executive director. Zivko sold the building in 1981 and subsequent owners used the 600-capacity main ballroom predominantly for wedding receptions, holiday parties and charity events.

The Jansen Group is planning to finish off its work on the main hall at the Chandelier Ballroom by the end of summer. The company already ventilated the subfloor and refinished and repaired the floor in the room. Photo courtesy of The Jansen Group Inc.

In 1996, the establishment was up for sale again, the third time in 15 years. The building, which also contains a wood-paneled Fireside Room for smaller gatherings, had lost much of its original luster, and some suggested the land might be more valuable if turned into smaller lots.

Fearing that the building would be sold to developers, the Hartford Rotary Foundation began a “Save Our Schwartz” campaign in 1996, Miotke said. Within a year, the group secured a mortgage and an economic development loan. Three years later, ownership was transferred to the Hartford Historic Preservation Foundation.

But the building still needed help. Major renovations were necessary and significant funding became crucial to re-establish the venue. That’s where The Jansen Group stepped in, with Miotke leading the fund-raising effort.

“I dedicated five years to help raise money, and it was quite a fight,” he said.

After two fund-raising campaigns and a $150,000 challenge grant from the Jeffris Family Foundation, a group that focuses on historic building preservation in Wisconsin, the owners moved forward with the renovation.

“The benefactors have been outstanding,” said Carroll, a longtime Hartford resident. “Without them, there would be houses sitting there.”

The Jansen team has worked on the project on and off ever since, and Milwaukee-based Engberg Anderson Design Partnership Inc. was brought in to ensure the restoration is consistent with the building’s original design.

The result is a ballroom that, despite its recent upkeep, still seems part of a bygone era. The lobby, for instance, contains the same ticket booth where people paid to see big bands perform.

But perhaps most significant is the original, art deco chandelier hanging from the ballroom’s grand peak.

Image courtesy of the Hartford History Room

“It’s quite classic and is a definite part of the charm,” Miotke said. “For some mysterious reason it hasn’t been damaged over the years.”

And the damaged parts of the building are getting restored, with tuck-pointing and masonry repairs restoring the integrity of the tan façade, and the deteriorating parking lot getting repaved. Jansen also added ventilation and regraded the exterior to push moisture away from the building.

Inside, several pieces of the main hall’s maple floor were swapped out to restore its original look, and the aging restrooms were given a facelift that included new tiles.

Some of the most important progress, however, lies hidden from view. A new HVAC system was put in and parts of the subfloor, which had experienced significant dry rot, were meticulously replaced.

“There was no circulation in the crawl space,” said Bob Wetzel, Jansen’s project manager. “Water would run in there without anywhere to go.”

Jansen, which works around the peak rental months of the facility, plans to complete the renovation this summer. Included in the final phase are the replacement of acoustical material on the ballroom’s ceiling, another refinishing of the floor and adaptation of the entry to make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Miotke estimated that $1 million was spent on renovations over the past few years, with about $600,000 budgeted for the remainder of the work. In financial terms, it’s not a huge project for a company the size of Jansen, but it’s a special one.

“It’s the jewel in our construction crown,” he said.