Plainfield’s Old Opera House Saved From Wrecking Ball

The Plainfield Opera House has seen better days. Originally built in 1902, its roof and back wall are now so bad that some people were afraid they may collapse.

But Matt Makaryk, a Plainfield native who now lives in Georgia where he is a major in the U.S. Army, has plans of saving the building that has sentimental value to him.

Makaryk bought the historic structure from a private citizen in 2011 for just $2,500. Now he is promising village leaders he will rebuild it so they won’t have to tear it down.

Last September, the Plainfield Village Board voted to proceed with the process of razing the building out of concern for the structural integrity of the back wall and the roof.

However, in November, Makaryk reached an agreement with the village board that they would not raze the building if he got the back wall fixed by the end of May 2017, and the roof fixed by the end of November 2017. He said he will meet the deadlines.

“This is really my hometown. I had my high school graduation party in that building,” Makaryk said. “I’ve always loved and respected the old buildings, the fact that it’s really one of only two that’s left in Plainfield. I wanted it.”

Makaryk is restoring the first floor into a banquet hall and theater, and the upstairs into a loft apartment, which will serve as a bed and breakfast.

Makaryk plans to retire from military work in 2023, when the renovation work will be finished, and move back to Plainfield.

He said the process has been an educational experience.

“I like the research and the history,” Makaryk said. “The Independent Order of Odd Fellows built the building in 1902. Being able to walk into an antique shop and buy a doorknob, and then tell somebody that I’m trying to restore an opera house, it’s kind of neat for a 37-year-old guy.”

He expects the entire project to cost $200,000.

The opera house renovation is part of a trend of saving old buildings in central Wisconsin.

Elsewhere, entrepreneurs are turning the long vacant Wausau Club into a contemporary art museum, and the Mathias building in Merrill into an art gallery.