Artists Turn Talents to Restoration Project : Culture: Group is turning historic but run-down Cedar Avenue complex into a headquarters. One building, the Memorial Hall, will reopen Saturday.

LANCASTER —  For the last six months, an organization that supports Antelope Valley artists and sculptors has been wrestling with more mundane matters, such as leaky roofs, cracked kitchen tiles and outdated wiring.

The 47-year-old Antelope Valley Allied Arts Assn. took on these challenges last spring when it moved into its new home, the historic Cedar Avenue complex in downtown Lancaster.

When the group purchased the complex, its members knew the five buildings, dating back to the 1920s and 1930s, might need hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of renovation.

Extensive repair work still needs to be done, but the association celebrated a first milestone in the rebirth of the Cedar Avenue complex Saturday with the reopening of one building, the Memorial Hall.

“It’s amazing what they’ve done here,” said Betty Midkiff, an association board member. “It’s been a labor of love for all of us.”

A handful of volunteers, including retired construction workers, have toiled since spring to spruce up the hall, a once-popular Lancaster meeting room that had fallen into disrepair. The volunteers have repainted the walls and scrubbed the floors and counters, preparing the hall to be rented out for banquets, receptions and other special events.

The reopening of the hall also kicked off “Celebration of the Arts ‘94,” a series of fine arts and performing arts events taking place through Oct. 10 at locations throughout the Antelope Valley.

At the refurbished Memorial Hall, the 155-member Allied Arts Assn. will move one step closer to its goal of setting up a community arts center in a complex that narrowly avoided demolition twice during the past decade.

The buildings at the corner of Cedar Avenue and Lancaster Boulevard once housed county government offices for the area, including a sheriff’s station, jail, health center and courtroom. Architectural experts described the design as “restrained Art Deco.”

The city of Lancaster bought the complex from the county in 1987 and considered demolishing it on two occasions to make way for modern office buildings. City officials insisted that it would be far too expensive to renovate the aging complex.

But local preservationist successfully blocked the demolition proposals, arguing that the buildings were architecturally and historically significant. As a result of their efforts, the buildings were designated state and national historic sites.

At the same time, the Allied Arts Assn., which had been seeking a permanent home, turned its attention to the Cedar Avenue complex. For years, the association has been forced to meet in school cafeterias and set up its annual art show at the local fairgrounds.

Association members concluded that the Cedar Avenue buildings could provide permanent office and exhibit space, along with rooms for art classes.

Last November, the Lancaster City Council agreed to sell the Cedar Avenue complex to the arts group for $249,000. The group was not required to make a down payment, but must pay the city $1,119 a month for 40 years to erase the debt.

In a ceremony last April, city officials handed over the keys to the complex. Since then, members of the arts group have been busy making the old buildings habitable once again. To help pay the bills, the organization had hoped to be renting office space in the complex by now.

But it has been difficult to do that, members said, because the old heating and air-conditioning systems do not work or are highly inefficient.

“That’s slowed up the process of renting it,” said Carole Love, president of the association. “And the donations have been coming in slower than anticipated, so we’re kind of in the struggling stage.”

On a positive note, however, Love said a local women’s organization is considering renting one of the Cedar Avenue buildings. In addition, the arts group hopes to acquire surplus air conditioning and heating equipment soon from a county agency.

Now that Memorial Hall is repaired, Love is optimistic that the remaining buildings can be renovated quickly. She hope the remaining space will be rented out or used for art exhibits and classes by the end of the year.

“Mainly,” Love said, “it’s just a matter of paint and polish now for the rest of the complex.