Historic preservation completed for a midcoast music school’s permanent home

An exterior view of a building with a deep yellow facade and a wood-sided addition.

Photo / Courtesy Sarah Szwajkos Photography LLC The adaptive reuse project included preserving the structure’s form and architectural details while accommodating expanded programming space in a modern addition.

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By Laurie Schreiber

Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School’s renovation of a mid-19^th-century hall in Camden is driving a 75% increase in student enrollment since it was completed in June 2024.

The redesign also garnered a 2025 Maine Preservation Honor Award for the project architect, Barba + Wheelock Architects in Portland.

“Dedicated and passionate Mainers are revitalizing significant places that ground our sense of place along the coast and inland, and contribute to local economies, create housing and foster community connection,” said Tara Kelly, Maine Preservation’s executive director.

A performance hall has big ductwork at the ceiling and a grand piano.

Photo / Courtesy Sarah Szwajkos Photography LLC

The team worked out tightly constructed, large ductwork woven through historic trusses

A capital campaign raised $8 million from over 150 donors — including individuals, foundations and local businesses — to finance the project and create an operating endowment to maintain the building.

Former meetinghouse

Founded in 1960, Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School bought a property known as High Mountain Hall, at 5 Mountain St. in Camden, in 2022 in order to move from rented quarters in Rockport into its first permanent home.

The 6,500-square-foot structure dates back to 1848 — one of Camden's oldest community buildings — as a former meetinghouse and church.

Exterior view of an old building with pale yellow siding.

FILE PHOTO / COURTESY CAMDEN REAL ESTATE

High Mountain Hall as it appeared before renovations.

The building was renovated in 2007 into professional offices and an events hall.

Floor rot

The design team, led by Barba + Wheelock with Rockport-based Tamarack Builders, discovered that a stream of water running through the crawl space had caused the floor structure to rot, requiring extensive replacement of the framing. Rear storage additions were deemed unsalvageable.

Barba + Wheelock, led by by Cynthia Wheelock and Nancy Barba, created a 150-seat concert hall, 12 classrooms, a recording studio and office space.

The firm was heralded for a design that preserved the structure’s form and architectural details while accommodating Bay Chamber’s need for expanded programming space in a modern addition tucked behind the original building.

The adaptive reuse retained character-defining features — such as the overall form, eaves, and trim details — while accommodating change.

Reconfiguration of the interior captured more volume in the hall.

An addition increased programming space. Asa Peats, the project’s landscape architect, designed outdoor gathering spaces and native plantings.

Sound isolation

The most interesting design challenge had to do with sound isolation and acoustics between the studios, Barba told Mainebiz.

“This was paramount and involved many, many meetings with the mechanical engineers and contractors to work out tightly constructed, large ductwork — the larger it is, the more quiet it performs — and weaving it through the historic trusses,” she said.

The strategy included creating each wall using three layers of sheetrock, with space in-between, to create a sound barrier between the studios.

An aerial view of buldings and a harbor.

Photo / Courtesy Sarah Szwajkos Photography LLC

Bay Chamber’s new home is in the yellow building at bottom.

“There were 900 sheets of sheetrock in hat little building,” Barba said.

Doors with gaskets help prevent sound from leaking into the hallways.

“It’s so serene when you go there now,” she said.

Massachusetts-based Acentech advised on acoustical design.

Local team

Tim Morrison, a project architect with Barba + Wheelock, coordinated a mostly local team of landscape designer, civil engineer and construction manager, and augmented the team with expertise in acoustical engineering, structural, mechanical, electrical, lighting design and interior design, said Wheelock.

“Tamarack Builders extended the project schedule to enable the participation of smaller, local subcontractors. Community engagement is built into this new space,” said Barba.

Photo / Courtesy Barba + Wheelock

From left, front: Doug Martin and Aaron French with W.H. Demmons, Mike Cunningham with Lincoln/Haney Structural Engineers and Tim Morrison with Barba + Wheelock. Back: Cal Egan and Andrew Marchetti of Tamarack Builders, Bay Chamber Director Josie Davis, and Nancy Barba and Cynthia Wheelock.

Other project participants included Stephen Earle Design in Rockport, Bennett Engineering in Freeport, Lincoln/Haney Engineering Associates in Brunswick, Landmark Corp. Surveyors & Engineers in Camden and W.H. Demmons in Portland.

This was the 12th time that Barba + Wheelock has won a Maine Preservation Honor Award. In 2023, the firm was recognized for its contributions to the Lemont Block project in Brunswick.