The old Capitol Theater building, now known as the Schwartz Center for the Arts, dates back to 1904 when it opened as the Dover Opera House. It continued in operation until 1982 when it was closed. The building sat unoccupied from that time until renovations began. While it sat idle, the building deteriorated. The original space was not designed to be a contemporary performing arts venue.

Because of this, the building had to be gutted almost in its entirety, but it wasn’t that simple. Much of the structure had to be repaired and strengthened, the building had to be gutted in carefully orchestrated steps. The EDiS team took the interior of the building down a section at a time and then built new interior structure to hold everything up before taking down the next section. After the structure was stabilized and reinforced the rest of the building was rebuilt.

The result is a beautifully renovated jewel in downtown Dover. It is a facility that has served as a performing arts venue and a preferred meeting place for Dover area events for many years. EDiS is proud to have been a part of the rebirth of this Kent County landmark.

1 of 2 Schwartz Center for the Arts Exterior