Music will be heard again in Brodbeck

By Tommy O’Neill

The first steps in the rebuilding of Brodbeck Hall, which was struck by lightning and caught fire last September, are taking place.

Demolition work is underway to clear out the damage so renovations can begin.

Lightning struck the cupola and sent the third floor of the building up in flames early in the morning on Sept. 9, 2021. There was significant fire and water damage in the center of the building.

According to Chuck Mann, Hood’s vice president for finance, the pianos and organ that were once in the building were removed immediately after the fire and examined by professionals. The firefighters covered the pianos with tarps on the night of the fire to try to protect them from water damage.

Brodbeck, built in 1868, is the oldest building on campus, said archivist and librarian Mary Atwell. “It was originally built by Frederick’s German population, modeled after German social halls,” she said.

The German owners of the building sold it to Margaret Hood, who used it for Woman’s College of Frederick, which was renamed as Hood College in 1913. The building was enlarged in 1922.

“Once purchased by Hood, the building was used for many purposes over the years, such as staff and faculty housing, a cafeteria of sorts for students, religious services, musical events, and classrooms,” Atwell said.

Brodbeck now looks like something you would see in a horror movie. Wooden boards cover the windows of the third floor that were destroyed, caution tape surrounds the front of the building, and “keep out” signs are over all of the entrances. Its ghastly appearance doesn’t help the fact that students already think the building is haunted.

To give the community an update, banners saying “Music will be heard again” were put up in front of Brodbeck Music Hall to announce that renovations for the building are in the works.

Since the building is so old, the members of the renovation committee are trying their best not to harm the historical look of the building and restore it to what it once was, Mann said.

“We hired an architecture firm, and the work right now is all about the historical review. We haven’t started getting the design ready yet,” Mann said.

Plans are not only to restore the building, but to add improvements, including making it wheelchair accessible. Mann confirmed that there will be a new HVAC system added in Brodbeck as well.

Mann stated that there’s not a definitive date for when Brodbeck will be accessible to students again, but he estimated that it will take the rest of the year to do the design work.

“We would probably start construction in 2023, which would take around a year and a half…That’s preliminary, so we don’t know for sure,” Mann said. “It could be earlier, but to be safe, I would say around the summer of 2024.